The Daily Prophet: Term XXIX, Issue 02
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Term XXIX, Issue 02 June 2, 2014
Welcome to hogwartsishome! You will find many great people and many, many fun things to do. We hope you'll have a great time with us at Hogwarts!
Common rooms:
gryff_lions the_puff_house
ravenclaw_house cunningfolk
By lotrangel17
Activity: Slider Puzzle
Participation Points: Participation Only. 10pts/5kts. (+ 5 bonus points if you own a Subscription to the Daily Prophet).
Deadline: Saturday, June 14th, 11:59pm UTC
Details: Help us fix our Front Page!
Submit your entries here!
Results!
Activity: Curvy Words
Details: Solve the Curvy Words Puzzle
House Totals:
Gryffindor: 135
Hufflepuff: 73
Ravenclaw: 140
Slytherin: 98
By xonceinadream
Announcements
► We had a member cut! If you know someone who can't see this post, then they've been cut and can find the returning posts here.
► Results were posted for the layout contest. Congratulations to Adrienne/x_____starlight for winning and check out hogwartsishome to see the winning layout in action.
Misc
► Heather/queer-theory would like you to check out gameofcards, a multi-fandom land comm.
► Renee/Isaac-of-nine posted a survey about Pokemon to help out a former member who's doing a case study research.
► Sam/pretty-panther posted about The Pillow Fort, a site for young people dealing with chronic illnesses.
► Heather/_shaomao_ posted about her sorority sister who is competing for Ms. Veteran America and needs Facebook likes.
► Jaime/daughterjudy posted a video of Rupert Grint on the soundtrack of Postman Pat.
Don't forget to check out HIH on twitter and tumblr. @hihnews and fromplatform934.
Apply to be a:
Registered Animagus
HP Character
Writing Communities:
hh_sugarquill
Icon Making Communities:
sortedchallenge
hogwartsicons
Sponsored Shops
Attention Shop Owners!
Would you like to see your banner here?
Then come over to this post to find out how!
By slumber
"Dear Dumbledore,
I have to know... where do you find your awesome robes? Are they special order? I think I've rarely seen you wear the same robes more than once. How do I become as stylish as you?
Envious"
Dear Envious,
I must say I'm extremely flattered you think that. I do actually have my robes custom-made - Kingsley Shacklebolt hooked me up with his tailor, after years with Madam Malkin (who wasn't too pleased when I left). You'd want to talk to Mr. Ovechkin over at Diagon Alley. It'll be the storefront-and-a-half right beside Flourish and Blott's. He's got a very keen style.
Yours,
Albus
"Dear Dumbledore,
The rumors say you're an expert on socks and a large fan of them. With the record I've had with socks, I cannot say the same. Even ignoring their habit of losing half of a pair when laundry is done (if this has freed any house elves who did not wish it, I apologize), the flawed sizing system, and the way they start stinking before you've even finished quidditch practice, what bothers me are the seams. They get underfoot and become that little annoyance that never lets go. Where can we buy better socks? Or perhaps you know a spell to make them seamless.
Socked Slytherin"
Dear Socked Slytherin,
I'm personally a big fan of Gladrags' socks - they come in all kinds of colors and combinations that never match but always suit any of their designs, so you just need to pick any two from your sock drawer and voila!, as they say in Beauxbatons. As for the sizing and the seams, I do believe Gladrags has the magic of perfectly fitted socks down to a tee. I've never had one get underfoot for me.
Yours,
Albus
"Dear Dumbledore,
I've got an important job interview coming up, and I want to impress them right away by dressing my best. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at keeping up with the latest in wizarding wear. What would you wear to an interview?
Signed,
Fashion Impaired"
Dear Fashion Impaired,
There are many shops in Diagon Alley that specialize in formal wizard wear, and common advice is to dress for the job you wish to have, so dressing up is important. Robes are still in vogue, but it would depend on the wizarding establishment you're applying for. I know the folks over at Whizz Hard Books are embracing Muggle fashion quite... exuberantly... but you might have to watch a Tim Burton film to get an idea of what passes for business formal over there. Of course, Gringotts will expect no less than full-on formal, so the more ancient the robes, the better. You might want to talk to one of the house ghosts to see whether any of the shops they used to frequent when they were alive are still around.
Good luck!
Yours,
Albus
Write to Dumbles
You can write to your headmaster here; Dumbledore will try to respond to all letters, but there may be some delay before he gets to yours. All letters dealt with in strictest confidence.
If you would like to write an article for a future issue of the Daily Prophet, please comment at the signup sheet.
Term XXIX, Issue 02 Page 2
By la_loony
hh_sugarquill
By wasureneba
Hello all, and welcome to a new issue of the Prophet!
May points are in! Congratulations to Ravenclaw, who just squeaked out a first place over Gryffindor by eight points (958 to 950!). To see the highest points and most active members, as well as to see a roundup of what was posted during May in Sugarquill, go here. You can also find June prompts.
There's a bit of news coming out of the comm in addition to our regularly scheduled monthly news. First, the second round of sign-ups have begun for the Houses of Hogwarts fest. If you haven't signed up, or if you'd like to sign up for another house, head on over!
We've also got tags for those who completed their May bingo cards - and a new sign-up going for June bingo cards. Go to this post to pick up your tags and/or to sign up.
Results for Writer's Block #2, 'Switch', are in! There were quite a few entries, all of which can be found here; take a peek and have a good time reading! Congratulations go to Jalen/jalenstrix for first place with Entry D; to Noe/sickle_girl for coming in second place with Entry K; and to Michiko/heartsignite for placing in third with Entry G! Well done, everyone, and thank you to everyone for participating!
And now - let's check out a few of the great fics that have been posted in Sugarquill recently! The first is No Place Like Home by Crystal/bluemermaid; if you're a student going through spring exams, you might find this fic hits close to home (and we hope that you, too, have a relaxing place to fight your anxiety in).
Jalen brings us a lovely post-war interaction between Snape and Hermione in Subtlety, which is guaranteed to give you a smile.
If you want some outright guffaws, check out Never is Good, Too by Michiko, featuring Ron Weasley, Pansy Parksinson, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and a one-broom closet.
If, on the other hand, you wanted something a bit sad, Hollyiam4him is here for you: Squib pairs young Argus Filch and his mother discussing his lack of magic.
Until next time, dear readers, may your ink be black and your quills sharp!
hh_sugarquill sortedchallenge hogwartsicons
By evening12
Welcome to another column of Fanart Spotlight. Let's get to the good stuff, shall we? With the start of June comes the starts of sortedchallenge results! It's a Gryffindor win for Challenge 1 where the Lions earned 183 points! Ellie/erzsebet of Gryffindor placed 1st, while 2nd place went to Tiffany/fangss of Slytherin. Newcomer to HiH, Michi/heartsignite of Gryffindor took home 3rd place, and Steph/alwaysawkward of Gryffindor received the award for "best crop".
The banners for Challenge 1 have already been posted, so please grab your banner right here
If you want to get in on the action, why not submit something for Challenge 3? This time around, the challenge requires a picspam featuring the prompts "Battle of Hogwarts" or "Harry Potter as Horror." The challenge is open until Saturday, June 1 at 1am UTC.
And now for hogwartsicons. The mods posted a Mod Post, so please take the time to read it. Of interest to those who are looking to challenge themselves, the 10 Variations post is being watched, so please claim away!
There's been so many lovely graphics to choose from, and that makes me very happy. Keep on sharing your great work, graphic makers! To get us started, here are some great banners from Ravenclaw's Bonster/jacklemmon.
Check out the rest of Bonster's banners right here.
Caitie/caitieness of Hufflepuff shared some great Lavender Brown icons and bases. Here are a few of my favourite ones.
Enjoy the rests of the icons at Caitie's post.
Michi/heartsignite of Gryffindor created some Tom Felton Friends Only banners, and here are some of them.
Stop by Michi's post to see the rest of the graphics.
Beautiful work is also being shared over at hh_sugarquill, but first a bit of business. The June prompts have dropped, and there are two art prompts. With the overarching theme of "Pride", here are the art prompts:
General Art Challenge #127
Boys in the girls' room / Girls in the men's room -Garbage, Androgyny
Finishing Level: Any
Specific Art Challenge #64
Last time I saw you / We had just split in two. -Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Origin of Love
Medium: Watercolors
Finishing Level: Any
Also, let's give it up for Delphine/nearlyconscious of Ravenclaw who completed two rows of of Art Bingo! Artists, if you are looking for inspiration, why not sign up for the June Art Bingo? And now, let there be art!
Slytherin's Alice/superficiality drew two of Slytherin's most famous women by drawing a young Bellatrix and a young Narcissa.
Leave a comment for Alice right here.
Inspired by Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Evy/slumber of Ravenclaw shared a digital drawing of Hermione Granger as Belle.
Check out Evy's work right here.
To wrap things here, I share with you a beautiful watercolor piece by Beth/prongsy of Gryffindor.
Leave Beth some comments right here.
This is it for this edition. I'm excited to see what other beautiful works get produced. Keep on posting and you might find yourself in the spotlight next time!
hh_clubs
By x_____starlight
It's the end of the first month of the term at HiH, and you know what that means - lots of results at hh_clubs! Almost two dozen activities' results have gone up since our last issue, so brace yourself for a lot of points!
Gryffindor has continued its winning streak, earning the highest number of points in all clubs activities, as of this writing. Great job lions and congrats on all that hard work paying off! But that doesn't mean the lions are the only ones out there - there has been GREAT participation from all of the houses so far this term! Let's dive right into some of the most exciting results and have a look!
Defense Against the Dark Arts Club's Still Recruiting was our first placement-based activity of the term, and the entries were all so great that we ended up with 5 winners!
First place went to both Evy/slumber of Ravenclaw and Caitie/caitieness of Hufflepuff (entries shown above, respectfully); second place was a tie between Susan/susako of Ravenclaw and Alex/alex_parker of Gryffindor; and third place went to Bonster/jacklemmon of Ravenclaw. Gryffindor took first place overall, with 192 points, with Ravenclaw coming in a close second with 170 points. Hufflepuff took third with 66 points and Slytherin rounded things out with 44 points.
Astronomy Club's Star Stamping saw some really epic participation, with the four houses earning a combined total of 1209 points! 45 people participated in the activity, stamping members as one of several stars (and getting stamped themselves). Way to go everyone!
Owl Post Secret's Time Tunnel was the next placement activity to go up (this time, a puzzling flash game!) Beth/djmayhem_aubrey of Slytherin took home first place with a score of 1603; second place went to Beth/prongsy of Gryffindor with a score of 1532; and third place went to Allison/pinksonia of Ravenclaw with a score of 1454. The honorable mention was Claire/nfgs of Hufflepuff with a score of 1439, rounding out the top four with some nice house unity! Overall, scores were very close, with Gryffindor again taking first with 205 points, but followed very closely by Ravenclaw with 195. Slytherin took third with 150 and Hufflepuff walked away with 110 points.
There was some crazy participation (and points!) in Smarmy Society's What Is That Word? activity, with Gryffindor alone earning 446 points! Slytherin came in second with 215, with Ravenclaw coming in a close third with 190 and Hufflepuff coming fourth with 117. HiHers found DOZENS of words in "The Gregory the Smarmy Society," with most participants coming up with unique words, like "thematic," "asymmetry," "gorge," and "crematorium."
Muggle Cultural Society's Muggle Career Day ended with some difficult voting, thanks to all the amazing entries! Amber/amberdowny of Ravenclaw's entry about Arthur going to work as an electrician earned her first place; Beth/prongsy of Gryffindor's tale about Ron working in Hermione's dad's office earned her second place; and Emily/xonceinadream of Gryffindor and Michi/heartsignite of Gryffindor tied for third with their entries about Bellatrix as a teacher and Draco as a crossing guard, respectively. Congratulations to all the winners, including Gryffindor house, who took home 232 points (thanks in large part to the three ladies who placed!).
Gryffindor's crazy winning streak continued in Charms Club's What Charm Is This?, with the lions taking home a whopping 544 points! Hufflepuff barely edged out Slytherin for second place, taking 160 points to the badger den, while the snakes walked away with 154. Ravenclaw rounded out the results with 134 points.
But the activity that saw the biggest participation from all the houses this month was Divination Club's This or That, Part 2. 1691 points were earned in the activity, with Gryffindor taking 606 points, Hufflepuff taking 473, Ravenclaw taking 408, and Slytherin taking 202. A staggering number of HiHers were able to accurately predict all 10 choices, even though some had very narrow margins (Airplanes only beat out Trains by 1 vote!) so a big congratulations to Beth/prongsy of Gryffindor, Erin/_eyesofpride_ of Hufflepuff, Katie/abcdefghijkatie of Hufflepuff, Andie/tralfamadore of Ravenclaw, and Tiffany/fangss of Slytherin for their great Seeing abilities!
There were, of course, many more results this month at hh_clubs, so be sure to check the results tag to see any you might have missed!
The last couple of weeks have not seen any major announcements from the mods, but we did get three new rosters posted since our last edition of the Prophet. Make sure you've signed the rosters for the Restricted Section, Music Club, and Insomniacs to claim your bonus points (and be sure to buy the new bonus items for Insomniacs before you sign!)
And although it is the very beginning of the month and the Clubs community is overflowing with results, there are still some activities up right now to help you pass the time and earn points for your house! Be sure to check out Shutterbug Society's So You Want to Be a Photographer? Part 2 and take some pictures (5 as if you were an HP character!) before June 3 at 10pm UTC. Then, send in your Report to the Minister about the plants in your office, which you planted in the last Ministry of Magic activity. You have until June 7 at 11:59pm UTC to get your report sent in! And finally, if you find yourself up between 10pm and 8am your local time, make sure you submit a Banner&Catchphrase for Insomniacs before June 13 at 1am UTC. And be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more new activities to go up soon!
Things have been rather busy over at hh_clubs, and they likely won't slow down anytime soon! Until next time, happy points earning!
A Walk in the Park
A certain Slytherin Prefect and Hufflepuff Quidditch captain were seen strolling through the Forbidden Forest. Bet the Slytherin Quidditch team isn't gonna like that!
Ongoing Tests...
It's been heard that a few Gryffindors are getting together to test out their latest invention, wanting to be the next Weasley twins or something. If you see any plumes of smoke or hear any loud whistling it's advised to run far away from where it's coming from. Otherwise, you might be the next tester.
Who owns that scarf?
A Hufflepuff student has recently been seen with a scarf in the Common Room. The weather is getting warmer, too warm to be wrapped around several yards of thick yarn, not to mention that the student's own scarf has been seen packed away in her trunk. So just who is she attempting to cuddle up to?
Got gossip? Tell us here!
Source loleia @ deviantart
hh_flourish
By la_loony
Hello Flourish visitors,
Welcome to a fresh new Flourish column. I bring some fresh interviews for you, the new theme and the usual lot of helpful links you might need.
+ The favorite characters theme is still in play, so make sure you claimed your favorite characters at this post shop keepers; otherwise you can't get those shiny themed tag points. And in case you already did that, head over here to download the fonts for the new theme, which is … provided fontsxD When you deliver, make sure to mark the tags that use one of these fonts, since fonts are easy to miss.
+ HiH members looking for specific character tags should check out this post. Who knows? Maybe a shop claimed your favorite and this is your chance to order them all.
+ As usual, there is some room for more shops, so if you are interested, apply here. There are no open spots for Lions (but you can always put your app in and be in the queue), but we have room for 3 Eagles and 2 Snakes and Badgers.
+ Not sure yet if a shop is REALLY your thing? Have a dry run at Hogsmeade and sign up for one. It's just for the weekend and good practice. Also, you'll earn pointsssssssssss. Sign ups are open to all members over here.
And now the shopkeepers:
Selcouth by isaac_of_nine
If you are looking for some gorgeous new smaller tags for hh_sugarquill, this is definitely a shop to have a look at. Most of the tags are stock so far, but there are also a bunch of really beautiful art tags and a really cool collection of Harry Potter book cover tags from covers I haven't seen before. Make sure to take a look at them when you check out the shop!
1. Which are your three favorite tags in your shop right now?
I really like this one because it kind of encompasses the atmosphere of what I want my shop to eventually achieve - a sense of adventure and things that are slightly out of the ordinary, a bit dreamy. Like maybe you're at home right now, but you can always look out the window and imagine you're traveling to far off places.
This tag follows along the same lines, but here I feel like it's the very start of a video game and there are mysteries lying ahead.
And my final favorite is one I've just added. It's an illustration by Katie Vernon - a buffalo or bison with loads of lovely colors on it. I think I'm going to tweak the set it's a part of, but I still like it.
2. How do you get inspiration and ideas to make new tags?
I guess just sort of rifling through my imagination and the things I myself like daydreaming of. I'm hoping that the longer I'm making tags and graphics in general, the better I'll become at expressing the sentiments and ideas in my head in a visual form.
3. What are your plans for additions to your shop in detail and/or general?
I'd definitely like to practice with gifs some more and hopefully incorporate some of those into my shop in the future. My computer is basically Frankenstein's monster at this point, so it's a gamble every time I pop open Photoshop (the screen got stuck in only shades of blue for two days while I tried working on my last update), but I'm sure there's a way. :)
No Day But Today by csichick_2
If you are looking for fandom tags, there is a good chance Whitney has them. Her collection includes a fandom for everyone, from Sherlock to Disney. And in case you are looking for something else? No problem. There are some lovely stock tags and really delicious food tags as well, so go check them out!
1. Which are your three favorite tags in your shop right now?
These strawberries are the most adorable thing ever, and I get hungry just looking at them.
I really like how the coloring turned out on this one, though to be honest, I’m quite attached to all my Rent tags.
I only just saw Tangled in February, and Pascal is just the cutest chameleon that ever existed.
2. How do you get inspiration and ideas to make new tags?
Mostly my inspiration comes from my fandoms. I make stuff that I like, and hopefully other people like it too.
That being said, my food section is so big because people order from it.
3. What are your plans for additions to your shop in detail and/or general?
While the favorite characters theme is running, most of the additions to my shop will be CSI, Law & Order, and Leverage, as those are the fandoms my three characters are from. I do plan to have at least one other fandom in each update for people that don’t count those among their fandoms.
Each of my current sections are going to be expanded with more tags, as I have an insane number of screencaps I need to go through - last I checked it’s about 50 GB worth.
As for new sections, there will be Harry Potter ones hopefully soon. Chamber of Secrets is currently the only movie I have capped, so I need to get around to capping the other seven. There will also definitely be more Disney, as well as ER, Chicago Fire and PD, Arrow, The Following, and Vikings. Provided I’ll be able to get my hands on screencaps, I’ll be making tags for The Flash when it starts this fall.
With Feathers by dontjudgeme
As you may or may not know, Christa has been around Flourish quite some time. She knows her stuff, and in case you haven't had the pleasure of seeing one of her shops, now is the time! It's relatively fresh, but already full of awesome tags. You've got a huge collection of Disney and comic-related tags, including fantastic fan art. I definitely recommend checking those out. And in case you are looking for something else - maybe one of the Harry Potter-themed tags or a personalized tag for your Animagus form - you can get all that, too.
1. Which are your three favorite tags in your shop right now?
Because if I could be anyone I would want to be KB because she is so great.
Because I love tags related to stamping (am plannning on creating more of these!) and ANIMAGUS. SO COOL.
Because DISNEY and also damachic really did amazing illustrations.
2. How do you get inspiration and ideas to make new tags?
I rely a lot on suggestions and requests from people, along with my own personal preferences. A lot of the time I'll end up trawling WeHeartIt and DeviantArt and Tumblr for inspiration or images and then I MAKE them. I won't update with anything I hate, so it's a good thing I am not anti-any fandoms. I'm willing to try and create anything!
3. What are your plans for additions to your shop in detail and/or general?
Not really sure in detail. I'm planning on expanding to more fandoms, along with more house pride tags and definitely some stamping-specific ones! Plus, with LJ's new layout, I'm going to have to re-do my catalog layout, too.
Let them eat cake by nicevenn
Izabella's shop just opened, so it's not the biggest shop on the block right now. She is working hard on expanding it already and offers a nice variety of tags. Following one of the current themes, there is a whole collection of her chosen favorite characters as well as some lovely Harry Potter sorting tags and stock tags that include a totally adorable little turtle.
1. Which are your three favorite tags in your shop right now?
2. How do you get inspiration and ideas to make new tags?
I start by googling images related to the theme or whatever's on my list of feel-good stuff at any given time. I save the ones I like, open them in Photoshop, and then see what I can do with them. If I have a new texture or brush I'm itching to use, I'll try to work that in somehow.
3. What are your plans for additions to your shop in detail and/or general?
I downloaded a bunch of sandcastle pics, so I'll be making sigtags from those soon. I also hope to make my shop look prettier and more organized.
~~~
This is it for the shops this issue. But before we go, here is a a link that will change your Flourish shopping experience forever: The Flourish Directory - the spreadsheet you always wanted because it helps you find all the shops that have exactly the tags you are looking for. And in case nobody has it, just check the directory for shops that take custom orders and they'll help you out.
Have fun at Flourish HiH, have fun!
hih_animagus
By interchanges
Hello all! In case you missed it, there's been some BIG NEWS in the Animagus community, with a few additions/changes to the community.
1. You can earn an extra point on every animagus activity you do by signing with an animagus tag or using an animagus icon with your form!
2. There will be two activities and one voting batch every month.
3. Now you only need to spend 30 knuts on The Standard Book of Spells vol. 1-3 in order to apply for your form!
Sound good? Any questions, feel free to ask Jess or Carola.
Elsewhere, Gryffindor earned the most points in both of May's activities: Registered Animagi Passport and Lost Passport. Gryffindor also earned the most voting points in May's Batch. If you were one of May's applicants, see what your choices were and submit your essay by 11pm UTC June 6.
Ellie/erzsebet was named May's Animagus of the Month. Congrats Ellie!
While having an animagus form isn't required to participate in Animagus activities, it's a good idea to check that you didn't lose your form at the end of last term. If you'd like to reclaim an animagus form you had in the past, you'll need to comment here. If you'd like a new form, and haven't reapplied before (as you can only do so once), you'll need to leave a comment here saying why your form no longer fits you in order to get the go ahead to reapply. And if you've never applied before, what are you waiting for? Buy the 3 books from Diagon Alley, then submit your application here!
hogsmeadewkends
By flipflop_diva
It’s June 2. Does everyone know what that means? Well, you should! It means Hogsmeade starts in 11 days!
Yup, that’s right! From June 13-15, we are getting Lost in the Woods on a Hogsmeade camping trip, and now we have all the details of that trip!
First of all, let’s introduce our social directors for the weekend. Keeping us from being eaten by bears - or maybe trying to feed us to bears? - are Adrienne/x_____starlight of Gryffindor, Whitney/csichick_2 of Hufflepuff and Bei/sapphoatsunset of Ravenclaw.
There is still room for a Slytherin liason on this trip, so if you’re a Snake and you’re interested, go sign up here before 5pm UTC on June 7. First come, first served!
Next, let’s look at our itinerary for the weekend. And can I just say, it’s busy?
There are 27!! activities, not counting the ball and Flourish shops and Stamping. And mixed in with fun favorites like the Sigtag Sale and the Fic & Art Exchange are things like Camping Karaoke, Messed Up Ghost Stories and the one I’m most dreading, YDE’s Spiders!
But along with an abundance of activities come a lot of chances for honor and glory. Or just for points and rewards.
As always, you can earn a points bonus (15 activities), a regular Hogsmeade banner (20 activities) and a superawesome Hogsmeade banner (absolutely everything). But this time you can also earn an awesome Hogsmeade banner by doing 25 activities! And all three banners are gorgeous.
(made by Susan/susako
(made by Bei/sapphoatsunset
(made by Alicia/blackestbird
But wait! There is more! There are also badges for special categories. So if you do four or more activities in one of the categories (writing, graphics, puzzles or misc.) or you participate in the ball or in five social activities or in other things, you can earn badges, which you can then turn into a tag when Hogsmeade is over. Like this:
Cool, huh?
Read all the fine print and details at this post.
Finally, before our adventure gets underway, there are still a few things you can do. First, sign up for a Hogsmeade shop. Second, prepare your stamping app. The queue opens at 3am UTC on Wednesday, June 4 (that is less than two days from now!).
And third, stock up on the marshmallows and graham crackers and the drinks. You’re going to need them!
If you would like to write an article for a future issue of the Daily Prophet, please comment at the signup sheet.
Term XXIX, Issue 0X Page 3
gryff_lions|Flourish Shoppes|Pirates
By iam4him
Hello Gryffindor! Where to even start?!? We have been so incredibly active and=== amazing! We've been the most active house in every single club activity so far this term! Keep it up Gryffs!
Madi/frickkonastick posted a Re-intro Post. Go say hi!
We had 19 top sorters for week 3 and one SHINING STAR SORTER Jess/rhye!
We had 23 top sorters for week 4 and our SHINING STAR SORTER was me/Holly/iam4him!
Thats a total of 1280 points! IT MAKES ME WANT TO EXPLODE WITH EXCITEMENT!
Ellie/erzsebet put together a wonderful SPREADSHEET for us to keep track of our bonus points for the various clubs here at HIH. Check it out and make sure you're getting all the points you can for Gryffindor!
We also have a nice new TUMBLR located here for you to follow and submit to!
Lions Wandering the Halls of HIH
hh_flourish
Morgan/wizbey: 12% of the Moment
Alex/gryffinwhore: Spiral Queen
Martine/la_loony: Lost in the Woods
Alexandra/coolceruleanblu: The Knitted Cauldron
Steph/alwaysawkward: That's Irrelevant
Jess/rhye: Bloodless
xonceinadream: The Rainbow Connection
Rene/isaac_of_nine: Selcouth
Nikki/stillandstorm: Flower Children
Michi/heartsignite: A Songbird's Dream
We are the only house to have all of our shop spots filled! Head on over to one of our 3 new shops, or any of the shops for that matter, and put in some orders!
hogwartsicons
Michi/heartsignite: 27 icons and 2 forum banners, 14 Tom Felton forum banners and 2 banners
Adrienne/x_____starlight: 11 Emma Watson banners and 13 icons,
Ellie/erzsebet: 16 tumblr-sized banners
Steph/alwaysawkward: 10 banners, 4 wallpapers
hh_sugarquill
Ellie/erzsebet: Wendelin, Untitled Luna Art/Fic, in a world of our own, Haiku
Jayden/slashedsilver: Harry/Draco Drabble Explosion
Rene/isaac_of_nine: The Secret Life of Lorcan and Lysander, Black Track
Beth/prongsy: Hedwig, Howl
Holly/iam4him: Waiting For the Day, Squib, 4 House Acrostics
Heather/lovestyle: Lily Evans
Adrienne/x_____starlight: 4 Doodles, Flying Kites & Winter
Michi/heartsignite: The Funny Thing About Falling, Never is Good, Too and First Glance
Emily/xonceinadream: The Beast Within
Writers Block!
Carola/carola_d won 3rd place in Writer's Block 1!
Michi/heartsignite won 3rd place in Writer's Block 2!
Sorted Challenge!
Ellie/erzsebet won 1st place in Challenge 1!
Michi/heartsignite won 3rd place in Challenge 1!
WOW is all I have to say about THAT!
Keep it up Gryffindor! Participate so much that you give me carpal tunnel from having to write about it!!!!
the_puff_house|Flourish Shoppes|Puffs of the Round Table
By flipflop_diva
Happy June, Puffs! Is it me or did last month just fly by? But here we are at the second month of term, so let’s get to it.
First, May points were announced. Congrats to Caitie/caitieness for tying for Most Active of all of HiH for the month!
While we’re at it, let’s throw out some more congrats, why don’t we?
• Congrats to all our May star sorters: Brook/furrrret, Kaity/kaitydid33087, Johanna/monkiainen and Kristine/flipflop_diva!
• Congrats to Whitney/csichick_2 for being named social director (again!) for the upcoming Hogsmeade.
• Congrats to Steph/lotrangel17 for being named May’s Club Leader of the Month and Caitie for being named April’s.
• And in terms of activities, congrats to Noe/sickle_girl for placing second in the WB contest, “Switch” and first in “A Thousand Words”, to Erin_eyesofpride_ for being a perfect seer in Divination’s This or That Part 2 and to Caitie/caitieness for tying for first in DADA’s Still Recruiting.
• Also, a special congratulatory shout-out to Avi/flyingharmony who got a so-far-ahead-the-rest-of-us-shouldn’t-have-even-bothered-to-play score in our May in-house Sweet Surrender.
In other news, we have a new old Puff! Nicole/nicolle_016, who originally joined in 2009, returned to HiH and was Sorted back into Puff. Yay! Find her intro here and go say hello if you haven’t!
Beyond that, the Common Room has been a little quiet (come out, come out, wherever you are, badgers!), but there are a few things you should make sure you do:
• Read this so you can earn the easiest points ever.
• Sign up to be a Big Badger!
• Sign up to make sigtags for newbies!
• Come play on the spreadsheet!
• Come hang out in chat with Whitney, Avi, Crystal/bluemermaid and me! You know you want to :)
And that’s it for this edition, Puffies! Keep being awesome, and I'll see you next time! <3
ravenclaw_house|Flourish Shoppes|Vikings
By storminmay
Hello again! It's Emma/storminmay, your Claw Correspondent for Term XXIX! Let's just jump right in, shall we?
The Term XXIX Members' Cut has been completed. SADFACE. :( Be sure to have your friends comment if they'd like to return … we don't like to lose Claws!
Say hello to Ithilienne, our newest Claw!
This week's inspiration post is 12 Grimmauld Place.
A Ravenclaw bra? Yep, that's a thing!!
Animagus cheat sheets, courtesy of Bei/sapphoatsunset!
Want to earn Ravenclaw points by doing, like, nothing?
Some resources for hogwartsicons
Changes to the Animagus community
Be sure to check out the awesome entries for the May In-House! Do you have a Claw-tastic playlist? What do you think of the songs used?
We've had a recent influx of new Claw shops at hh_flourish! With Feathers by Christa/dontjudgeme, Sunshine Daisies Butter Mellow by Amber/amberdowny, Temporary Bliss by Chelsea/interchanges, and Bad Blood by Bei/sapphoatsunset have now set up shop. Go check them out!
(Psst! There are still 3 Ravenclaw shop spots open! Why not apply?)
Which Claws are flying high? Check it out:
Sam/pretty_panther and Bonster/jacklemmon maxed out at hogwartsicons!
Delphine/nearlyconscious and Evy/slumber maxed out at hh_sugarquill!
Susan/susako placed 2nd in Writer's Block and 3rd in the Layout Contest!
Evy/slumber placed 1st, Susan/susako placed 2nd, and Bonster/jacklemmon placed 3rd in DADA's Still Recruiting!
Our Star Sorters for May have been Andie/tralfamadore, Jalen/jalenstrix, Chelsea/interchanges, and Colleen/schizophrenic0! Way to go with those elaborated votes on platform_934!
All of Ravenclaw's accomplishments from this term are being showcased in the ~ TROPHY CABINET~. OOOOoooooOOooooh, AAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaah…
I love you, Clawsome bbs~! ♥
cunningfolk|Flourish Shoppes|Vampire
By autumn_mist
Welcome to another edition of "Cunningfolk", where I tell you all about the fun things going on over in the Slytherin Common Room.
• CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER FOR Jess/lopt & Isis/slytherpuff for becoming our NEWEST Star Sorters of Term XXIX!! Speaking of Star Sorters ... have you been collecting your tags? Now everyone who votes on an applicant gets a shiny tag to display!
• Have you been checking out either the Motivational Monday or the Snake Attack Sunday posts? If not, you should! Both are filled with tons of fun ways to earn points for our noble house!
• And last, but by no means least, have you seen the gorgeous new header for our common room made by the lovely Nicole/nickershnick25 ? If not, check it out HERE!
Now on to Slytherins Around HiH!
=================================
SLYTHERINS AT HH_CLUBS:
• Sam/surmise has posted a new event for the Insomniacs Club that can be viewed HERE. Make sure you're on the ROSTER to get those bonus points!
• Cyn/cyn_ful has posted a new event for the Ministry of Magic that can be viewed HERE. Make sure you're on the ROSTER to get those bonus points!
=================================
SLYTHERINS AT SORTED CHALLENGE:
• Congratulations are in order for Tiffany/fangss for taking SECOND PLACE in Challenge #1
• Congratulations are in order for Rachel/moony_blues for PLACINGin the Banner Makers #1 Contest
=================================
SLYTHERINS AT SUGARQUILL:
• Alice/superficiality has posted artwork entitled Unfriendly Black Hotties, which may be viewed HERE
• Cyn/cyn_ful has posted a haiku entitled Pureblood, which may be viewed HERE
=================================
SLYTHERINS AT HH_FLOURISH:
• Don't forget, you can order a MAX of 10 sigtags from ALL our Slytherin shops located at hh_flourish if you find any that strike your fancy. Our current shop keepers are:
Cyn/cyn_ful with Ultimate Surprises
Tiffany/fangss with Riddikulus
Rachel/moony_blues with MoonyDoodles
Olivia/deshi_basara with three a.m.
Nicole/nickershnick25 with Born To Survive
Bella/nicevenn with Let Them Eat Cake
Isis/slytherpuff with Casterly Rock
Sam/surmise with Ɣ∃ʁɨϯɐᎦ (Veritas)
OR if you are graphically inclined yourself, why not apply for a spot?. There is currently still ONE spot available!
=================================
And always remember Slytherin House - You ARE AWESOME!
If you would like to write an article for a future issue of the Daily Prophet, please comment at the signup sheet.
If interested, please sign up here!
Term XXIX, Issue 02 June 2, 2014
Welcome to hogwartsishome! You will find many great people and many, many fun things to do. We hope you'll have a great time with us at Hogwarts!
Common rooms:
gryff_lions the_puff_house
ravenclaw_house cunningfolk
By lotrangel17
Activity: Slider Puzzle
Participation Points: Participation Only. 10pts/5kts. (+ 5 bonus points if you own a Subscription to the Daily Prophet).
Deadline: Saturday, June 14th, 11:59pm UTC
Details: Help us fix our Front Page!
Submit your entries here!
Results!
Activity: Curvy Words
Details: Solve the Curvy Words Puzzle
House Totals:
Gryffindor: 135
Hufflepuff: 73
Ravenclaw: 140
Slytherin: 98
By xonceinadream
Announcements
► We had a member cut! If you know someone who can't see this post, then they've been cut and can find the returning posts here.
► Results were posted for the layout contest. Congratulations to Adrienne/x_____starlight for winning and check out hogwartsishome to see the winning layout in action.
Misc
► Heather/queer-theory would like you to check out gameofcards, a multi-fandom land comm.
► Renee/Isaac-of-nine posted a survey about Pokemon to help out a former member who's doing a case study research.
► Sam/pretty-panther posted about The Pillow Fort, a site for young people dealing with chronic illnesses.
► Heather/_shaomao_ posted about her sorority sister who is competing for Ms. Veteran America and needs Facebook likes.
► Jaime/daughterjudy posted a video of Rupert Grint on the soundtrack of Postman Pat.
Don't forget to check out HIH on twitter and tumblr. @hihnews and fromplatform934.
Apply to be a:
Registered Animagus
HP Character
Writing Communities:
hh_sugarquill
Icon Making Communities:
sortedchallenge
hogwartsicons
Sponsored Shops
Attention Shop Owners!
Would you like to see your banner here?
Then come over to this post to find out how!
By slumber
"Dear Dumbledore,
I have to know... where do you find your awesome robes? Are they special order? I think I've rarely seen you wear the same robes more than once. How do I become as stylish as you?
Envious"
Dear Envious,
I must say I'm extremely flattered you think that. I do actually have my robes custom-made - Kingsley Shacklebolt hooked me up with his tailor, after years with Madam Malkin (who wasn't too pleased when I left). You'd want to talk to Mr. Ovechkin over at Diagon Alley. It'll be the storefront-and-a-half right beside Flourish and Blott's. He's got a very keen style.
Yours,
Albus
"Dear Dumbledore,
The rumors say you're an expert on socks and a large fan of them. With the record I've had with socks, I cannot say the same. Even ignoring their habit of losing half of a pair when laundry is done (if this has freed any house elves who did not wish it, I apologize), the flawed sizing system, and the way they start stinking before you've even finished quidditch practice, what bothers me are the seams. They get underfoot and become that little annoyance that never lets go. Where can we buy better socks? Or perhaps you know a spell to make them seamless.
Socked Slytherin"
Dear Socked Slytherin,
I'm personally a big fan of Gladrags' socks - they come in all kinds of colors and combinations that never match but always suit any of their designs, so you just need to pick any two from your sock drawer and voila!, as they say in Beauxbatons. As for the sizing and the seams, I do believe Gladrags has the magic of perfectly fitted socks down to a tee. I've never had one get underfoot for me.
Yours,
Albus
"Dear Dumbledore,
I've got an important job interview coming up, and I want to impress them right away by dressing my best. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at keeping up with the latest in wizarding wear. What would you wear to an interview?
Signed,
Fashion Impaired"
Dear Fashion Impaired,
There are many shops in Diagon Alley that specialize in formal wizard wear, and common advice is to dress for the job you wish to have, so dressing up is important. Robes are still in vogue, but it would depend on the wizarding establishment you're applying for. I know the folks over at Whizz Hard Books are embracing Muggle fashion quite... exuberantly... but you might have to watch a Tim Burton film to get an idea of what passes for business formal over there. Of course, Gringotts will expect no less than full-on formal, so the more ancient the robes, the better. You might want to talk to one of the house ghosts to see whether any of the shops they used to frequent when they were alive are still around.
Good luck!
Yours,
Albus
Write to Dumbles
You can write to your headmaster here; Dumbledore will try to respond to all letters, but there may be some delay before he gets to yours. All letters dealt with in strictest confidence.
If you would like to write an article for a future issue of the Daily Prophet, please comment at the signup sheet.
Term XXIX, Issue 02 Page 2
By la_loony
hh_sugarquill
By wasureneba
Hello all, and welcome to a new issue of the Prophet!
May points are in! Congratulations to Ravenclaw, who just squeaked out a first place over Gryffindor by eight points (958 to 950!). To see the highest points and most active members, as well as to see a roundup of what was posted during May in Sugarquill, go here. You can also find June prompts.
There's a bit of news coming out of the comm in addition to our regularly scheduled monthly news. First, the second round of sign-ups have begun for the Houses of Hogwarts fest. If you haven't signed up, or if you'd like to sign up for another house, head on over!
We've also got tags for those who completed their May bingo cards - and a new sign-up going for June bingo cards. Go to this post to pick up your tags and/or to sign up.
Results for Writer's Block #2, 'Switch', are in! There were quite a few entries, all of which can be found here; take a peek and have a good time reading! Congratulations go to Jalen/jalenstrix for first place with Entry D; to Noe/sickle_girl for coming in second place with Entry K; and to Michiko/heartsignite for placing in third with Entry G! Well done, everyone, and thank you to everyone for participating!
And now - let's check out a few of the great fics that have been posted in Sugarquill recently! The first is No Place Like Home by Crystal/bluemermaid; if you're a student going through spring exams, you might find this fic hits close to home (and we hope that you, too, have a relaxing place to fight your anxiety in).
Jalen brings us a lovely post-war interaction between Snape and Hermione in Subtlety, which is guaranteed to give you a smile.
If you want some outright guffaws, check out Never is Good, Too by Michiko, featuring Ron Weasley, Pansy Parksinson, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and a one-broom closet.
If, on the other hand, you wanted something a bit sad, Hollyiam4him is here for you: Squib pairs young Argus Filch and his mother discussing his lack of magic.
Until next time, dear readers, may your ink be black and your quills sharp!
hh_sugarquill sortedchallenge hogwartsicons
By evening12
Welcome to another column of Fanart Spotlight. Let's get to the good stuff, shall we? With the start of June comes the starts of sortedchallenge results! It's a Gryffindor win for Challenge 1 where the Lions earned 183 points! Ellie/erzsebet of Gryffindor placed 1st, while 2nd place went to Tiffany/fangss of Slytherin. Newcomer to HiH, Michi/heartsignite of Gryffindor took home 3rd place, and Steph/alwaysawkward of Gryffindor received the award for "best crop".
The banners for Challenge 1 have already been posted, so please grab your banner right here
If you want to get in on the action, why not submit something for Challenge 3? This time around, the challenge requires a picspam featuring the prompts "Battle of Hogwarts" or "Harry Potter as Horror." The challenge is open until Saturday, June 1 at 1am UTC.
And now for hogwartsicons. The mods posted a Mod Post, so please take the time to read it. Of interest to those who are looking to challenge themselves, the 10 Variations post is being watched, so please claim away!
There's been so many lovely graphics to choose from, and that makes me very happy. Keep on sharing your great work, graphic makers! To get us started, here are some great banners from Ravenclaw's Bonster/jacklemmon.
Check out the rest of Bonster's banners right here.
Caitie/caitieness of Hufflepuff shared some great Lavender Brown icons and bases. Here are a few of my favourite ones.
Enjoy the rests of the icons at Caitie's post.
Michi/heartsignite of Gryffindor created some Tom Felton Friends Only banners, and here are some of them.
Stop by Michi's post to see the rest of the graphics.
Beautiful work is also being shared over at hh_sugarquill, but first a bit of business. The June prompts have dropped, and there are two art prompts. With the overarching theme of "Pride", here are the art prompts:
General Art Challenge #127
Boys in the girls' room / Girls in the men's room -Garbage, Androgyny
Finishing Level: Any
Specific Art Challenge #64
Last time I saw you / We had just split in two. -Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Origin of Love
Medium: Watercolors
Finishing Level: Any
Also, let's give it up for Delphine/nearlyconscious of Ravenclaw who completed two rows of of Art Bingo! Artists, if you are looking for inspiration, why not sign up for the June Art Bingo? And now, let there be art!
Slytherin's Alice/superficiality drew two of Slytherin's most famous women by drawing a young Bellatrix and a young Narcissa.
Leave a comment for Alice right here.
Inspired by Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Evy/slumber of Ravenclaw shared a digital drawing of Hermione Granger as Belle.
Check out Evy's work right here.
To wrap things here, I share with you a beautiful watercolor piece by Beth/prongsy of Gryffindor.
Leave Beth some comments right here.
This is it for this edition. I'm excited to see what other beautiful works get produced. Keep on posting and you might find yourself in the spotlight next time!
hh_clubs
By x_____starlight
It's the end of the first month of the term at HiH, and you know what that means - lots of results at hh_clubs! Almost two dozen activities' results have gone up since our last issue, so brace yourself for a lot of points!
Gryffindor has continued its winning streak, earning the highest number of points in all clubs activities, as of this writing. Great job lions and congrats on all that hard work paying off! But that doesn't mean the lions are the only ones out there - there has been GREAT participation from all of the houses so far this term! Let's dive right into some of the most exciting results and have a look!
Defense Against the Dark Arts Club's Still Recruiting was our first placement-based activity of the term, and the entries were all so great that we ended up with 5 winners!
First place went to both Evy/slumber of Ravenclaw and Caitie/caitieness of Hufflepuff (entries shown above, respectfully); second place was a tie between Susan/susako of Ravenclaw and Alex/alex_parker of Gryffindor; and third place went to Bonster/jacklemmon of Ravenclaw. Gryffindor took first place overall, with 192 points, with Ravenclaw coming in a close second with 170 points. Hufflepuff took third with 66 points and Slytherin rounded things out with 44 points.
Astronomy Club's Star Stamping saw some really epic participation, with the four houses earning a combined total of 1209 points! 45 people participated in the activity, stamping members as one of several stars (and getting stamped themselves). Way to go everyone!
Owl Post Secret's Time Tunnel was the next placement activity to go up (this time, a puzzling flash game!) Beth/djmayhem_aubrey of Slytherin took home first place with a score of 1603; second place went to Beth/prongsy of Gryffindor with a score of 1532; and third place went to Allison/pinksonia of Ravenclaw with a score of 1454. The honorable mention was Claire/nfgs of Hufflepuff with a score of 1439, rounding out the top four with some nice house unity! Overall, scores were very close, with Gryffindor again taking first with 205 points, but followed very closely by Ravenclaw with 195. Slytherin took third with 150 and Hufflepuff walked away with 110 points.
There was some crazy participation (and points!) in Smarmy Society's What Is That Word? activity, with Gryffindor alone earning 446 points! Slytherin came in second with 215, with Ravenclaw coming in a close third with 190 and Hufflepuff coming fourth with 117. HiHers found DOZENS of words in "The Gregory the Smarmy Society," with most participants coming up with unique words, like "thematic," "asymmetry," "gorge," and "crematorium."
Muggle Cultural Society's Muggle Career Day ended with some difficult voting, thanks to all the amazing entries! Amber/amberdowny of Ravenclaw's entry about Arthur going to work as an electrician earned her first place; Beth/prongsy of Gryffindor's tale about Ron working in Hermione's dad's office earned her second place; and Emily/xonceinadream of Gryffindor and Michi/heartsignite of Gryffindor tied for third with their entries about Bellatrix as a teacher and Draco as a crossing guard, respectively. Congratulations to all the winners, including Gryffindor house, who took home 232 points (thanks in large part to the three ladies who placed!).
Gryffindor's crazy winning streak continued in Charms Club's What Charm Is This?, with the lions taking home a whopping 544 points! Hufflepuff barely edged out Slytherin for second place, taking 160 points to the badger den, while the snakes walked away with 154. Ravenclaw rounded out the results with 134 points.
But the activity that saw the biggest participation from all the houses this month was Divination Club's This or That, Part 2. 1691 points were earned in the activity, with Gryffindor taking 606 points, Hufflepuff taking 473, Ravenclaw taking 408, and Slytherin taking 202. A staggering number of HiHers were able to accurately predict all 10 choices, even though some had very narrow margins (Airplanes only beat out Trains by 1 vote!) so a big congratulations to Beth/prongsy of Gryffindor, Erin/_eyesofpride_ of Hufflepuff, Katie/abcdefghijkatie of Hufflepuff, Andie/tralfamadore of Ravenclaw, and Tiffany/fangss of Slytherin for their great Seeing abilities!
There were, of course, many more results this month at hh_clubs, so be sure to check the results tag to see any you might have missed!
The last couple of weeks have not seen any major announcements from the mods, but we did get three new rosters posted since our last edition of the Prophet. Make sure you've signed the rosters for the Restricted Section, Music Club, and Insomniacs to claim your bonus points (and be sure to buy the new bonus items for Insomniacs before you sign!)
And although it is the very beginning of the month and the Clubs community is overflowing with results, there are still some activities up right now to help you pass the time and earn points for your house! Be sure to check out Shutterbug Society's So You Want to Be a Photographer? Part 2 and take some pictures (5 as if you were an HP character!) before June 3 at 10pm UTC. Then, send in your Report to the Minister about the plants in your office, which you planted in the last Ministry of Magic activity. You have until June 7 at 11:59pm UTC to get your report sent in! And finally, if you find yourself up between 10pm and 8am your local time, make sure you submit a Banner&Catchphrase for Insomniacs before June 13 at 1am UTC. And be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more new activities to go up soon!
Things have been rather busy over at hh_clubs, and they likely won't slow down anytime soon! Until next time, happy points earning!
A Walk in the Park
A certain Slytherin Prefect and Hufflepuff Quidditch captain were seen strolling through the Forbidden Forest. Bet the Slytherin Quidditch team isn't gonna like that!
Ongoing Tests...
It's been heard that a few Gryffindors are getting together to test out their latest invention, wanting to be the next Weasley twins or something. If you see any plumes of smoke or hear any loud whistling it's advised to run far away from where it's coming from. Otherwise, you might be the next tester.
Who owns that scarf?
A Hufflepuff student has recently been seen with a scarf in the Common Room. The weather is getting warmer, too warm to be wrapped around several yards of thick yarn, not to mention that the student's own scarf has been seen packed away in her trunk. So just who is she attempting to cuddle up to?
Got gossip? Tell us here!
Source loleia @ deviantart
hh_flourish
By la_loony
Hello Flourish visitors,
Welcome to a fresh new Flourish column. I bring some fresh interviews for you, the new theme and the usual lot of helpful links you might need.
+ The favorite characters theme is still in play, so make sure you claimed your favorite characters at this post shop keepers; otherwise you can't get those shiny themed tag points. And in case you already did that, head over here to download the fonts for the new theme, which is … provided fontsxD When you deliver, make sure to mark the tags that use one of these fonts, since fonts are easy to miss.
+ HiH members looking for specific character tags should check out this post. Who knows? Maybe a shop claimed your favorite and this is your chance to order them all.
+ As usual, there is some room for more shops, so if you are interested, apply here. There are no open spots for Lions (but you can always put your app in and be in the queue), but we have room for 3 Eagles and 2 Snakes and Badgers.
+ Not sure yet if a shop is REALLY your thing? Have a dry run at Hogsmeade and sign up for one. It's just for the weekend and good practice. Also, you'll earn pointsssssssssss. Sign ups are open to all members over here.
And now the shopkeepers:
Selcouth by isaac_of_nine
If you are looking for some gorgeous new smaller tags for hh_sugarquill, this is definitely a shop to have a look at. Most of the tags are stock so far, but there are also a bunch of really beautiful art tags and a really cool collection of Harry Potter book cover tags from covers I haven't seen before. Make sure to take a look at them when you check out the shop!
1. Which are your three favorite tags in your shop right now?
I really like this one because it kind of encompasses the atmosphere of what I want my shop to eventually achieve - a sense of adventure and things that are slightly out of the ordinary, a bit dreamy. Like maybe you're at home right now, but you can always look out the window and imagine you're traveling to far off places.
This tag follows along the same lines, but here I feel like it's the very start of a video game and there are mysteries lying ahead.
And my final favorite is one I've just added. It's an illustration by Katie Vernon - a buffalo or bison with loads of lovely colors on it. I think I'm going to tweak the set it's a part of, but I still like it.
2. How do you get inspiration and ideas to make new tags?
I guess just sort of rifling through my imagination and the things I myself like daydreaming of. I'm hoping that the longer I'm making tags and graphics in general, the better I'll become at expressing the sentiments and ideas in my head in a visual form.
3. What are your plans for additions to your shop in detail and/or general?
I'd definitely like to practice with gifs some more and hopefully incorporate some of those into my shop in the future. My computer is basically Frankenstein's monster at this point, so it's a gamble every time I pop open Photoshop (the screen got stuck in only shades of blue for two days while I tried working on my last update), but I'm sure there's a way. :)
No Day But Today by csichick_2
If you are looking for fandom tags, there is a good chance Whitney has them. Her collection includes a fandom for everyone, from Sherlock to Disney. And in case you are looking for something else? No problem. There are some lovely stock tags and really delicious food tags as well, so go check them out!
1. Which are your three favorite tags in your shop right now?
These strawberries are the most adorable thing ever, and I get hungry just looking at them.
I really like how the coloring turned out on this one, though to be honest, I’m quite attached to all my Rent tags.
I only just saw Tangled in February, and Pascal is just the cutest chameleon that ever existed.
2. How do you get inspiration and ideas to make new tags?
Mostly my inspiration comes from my fandoms. I make stuff that I like, and hopefully other people like it too.
That being said, my food section is so big because people order from it.
3. What are your plans for additions to your shop in detail and/or general?
While the favorite characters theme is running, most of the additions to my shop will be CSI, Law & Order, and Leverage, as those are the fandoms my three characters are from. I do plan to have at least one other fandom in each update for people that don’t count those among their fandoms.
Each of my current sections are going to be expanded with more tags, as I have an insane number of screencaps I need to go through - last I checked it’s about 50 GB worth.
As for new sections, there will be Harry Potter ones hopefully soon. Chamber of Secrets is currently the only movie I have capped, so I need to get around to capping the other seven. There will also definitely be more Disney, as well as ER, Chicago Fire and PD, Arrow, The Following, and Vikings. Provided I’ll be able to get my hands on screencaps, I’ll be making tags for The Flash when it starts this fall.
With Feathers by dontjudgeme
As you may or may not know, Christa has been around Flourish quite some time. She knows her stuff, and in case you haven't had the pleasure of seeing one of her shops, now is the time! It's relatively fresh, but already full of awesome tags. You've got a huge collection of Disney and comic-related tags, including fantastic fan art. I definitely recommend checking those out. And in case you are looking for something else - maybe one of the Harry Potter-themed tags or a personalized tag for your Animagus form - you can get all that, too.
1. Which are your three favorite tags in your shop right now?
Because if I could be anyone I would want to be KB because she is so great.
Because I love tags related to stamping (am plannning on creating more of these!) and ANIMAGUS. SO COOL.
Because DISNEY and also damachic really did amazing illustrations.
2. How do you get inspiration and ideas to make new tags?
I rely a lot on suggestions and requests from people, along with my own personal preferences. A lot of the time I'll end up trawling WeHeartIt and DeviantArt and Tumblr for inspiration or images and then I MAKE them. I won't update with anything I hate, so it's a good thing I am not anti-any fandoms. I'm willing to try and create anything!
3. What are your plans for additions to your shop in detail and/or general?
Not really sure in detail. I'm planning on expanding to more fandoms, along with more house pride tags and definitely some stamping-specific ones! Plus, with LJ's new layout, I'm going to have to re-do my catalog layout, too.
Let them eat cake by nicevenn
Izabella's shop just opened, so it's not the biggest shop on the block right now. She is working hard on expanding it already and offers a nice variety of tags. Following one of the current themes, there is a whole collection of her chosen favorite characters as well as some lovely Harry Potter sorting tags and stock tags that include a totally adorable little turtle.
1. Which are your three favorite tags in your shop right now?
2. How do you get inspiration and ideas to make new tags?
I start by googling images related to the theme or whatever's on my list of feel-good stuff at any given time. I save the ones I like, open them in Photoshop, and then see what I can do with them. If I have a new texture or brush I'm itching to use, I'll try to work that in somehow.
3. What are your plans for additions to your shop in detail and/or general?
I downloaded a bunch of sandcastle pics, so I'll be making sigtags from those soon. I also hope to make my shop look prettier and more organized.
~~~
This is it for the shops this issue. But before we go, here is a a link that will change your Flourish shopping experience forever: The Flourish Directory - the spreadsheet you always wanted because it helps you find all the shops that have exactly the tags you are looking for. And in case nobody has it, just check the directory for shops that take custom orders and they'll help you out.
Have fun at Flourish HiH, have fun!
hih_animagus
By interchanges
Hello all! In case you missed it, there's been some BIG NEWS in the Animagus community, with a few additions/changes to the community.
1. You can earn an extra point on every animagus activity you do by signing with an animagus tag or using an animagus icon with your form!
2. There will be two activities and one voting batch every month.
3. Now you only need to spend 30 knuts on The Standard Book of Spells vol. 1-3 in order to apply for your form!
Sound good? Any questions, feel free to ask Jess or Carola.
Elsewhere, Gryffindor earned the most points in both of May's activities: Registered Animagi Passport and Lost Passport. Gryffindor also earned the most voting points in May's Batch. If you were one of May's applicants, see what your choices were and submit your essay by 11pm UTC June 6.
Ellie/erzsebet was named May's Animagus of the Month. Congrats Ellie!
While having an animagus form isn't required to participate in Animagus activities, it's a good idea to check that you didn't lose your form at the end of last term. If you'd like to reclaim an animagus form you had in the past, you'll need to comment here. If you'd like a new form, and haven't reapplied before (as you can only do so once), you'll need to leave a comment here saying why your form no longer fits you in order to get the go ahead to reapply. And if you've never applied before, what are you waiting for? Buy the 3 books from Diagon Alley, then submit your application here!
hogsmeadewkends
By flipflop_diva
It’s June 2. Does everyone know what that means? Well, you should! It means Hogsmeade starts in 11 days!
Yup, that’s right! From June 13-15, we are getting Lost in the Woods on a Hogsmeade camping trip, and now we have all the details of that trip!
First of all, let’s introduce our social directors for the weekend. Keeping us from being eaten by bears - or maybe trying to feed us to bears? - are Adrienne/x_____starlight of Gryffindor, Whitney/csichick_2 of Hufflepuff and Bei/sapphoatsunset of Ravenclaw.
There is still room for a Slytherin liason on this trip, so if you’re a Snake and you’re interested, go sign up here before 5pm UTC on June 7. First come, first served!
Next, let’s look at our itinerary for the weekend. And can I just say, it’s busy?
There are 27!! activities, not counting the ball and Flourish shops and Stamping. And mixed in with fun favorites like the Sigtag Sale and the Fic & Art Exchange are things like Camping Karaoke, Messed Up Ghost Stories and the one I’m most dreading, YDE’s Spiders!
But along with an abundance of activities come a lot of chances for honor and glory. Or just for points and rewards.
As always, you can earn a points bonus (15 activities), a regular Hogsmeade banner (20 activities) and a superawesome Hogsmeade banner (absolutely everything). But this time you can also earn an awesome Hogsmeade banner by doing 25 activities! And all three banners are gorgeous.
(made by Susan/susako
(made by Bei/sapphoatsunset
(made by Alicia/blackestbird
But wait! There is more! There are also badges for special categories. So if you do four or more activities in one of the categories (writing, graphics, puzzles or misc.) or you participate in the ball or in five social activities or in other things, you can earn badges, which you can then turn into a tag when Hogsmeade is over. Like this:
Cool, huh?
Read all the fine print and details at this post.
Finally, before our adventure gets underway, there are still a few things you can do. First, sign up for a Hogsmeade shop. Second, prepare your stamping app. The queue opens at 3am UTC on Wednesday, June 4 (that is less than two days from now!).
And third, stock up on the marshmallows and graham crackers and the drinks. You’re going to need them!
If you would like to write an article for a future issue of the Daily Prophet, please comment at the signup sheet.
Term XXIX, Issue 0X Page 3
gryff_lions|Flourish Shoppes|Pirates
By iam4him
Hello Gryffindor! Where to even start?!? We have been so incredibly active and=== amazing! We've been the most active house in every single club activity so far this term! Keep it up Gryffs!
Madi/frickkonastick posted a Re-intro Post. Go say hi!
We had 19 top sorters for week 3 and one SHINING STAR SORTER Jess/rhye!
We had 23 top sorters for week 4 and our SHINING STAR SORTER was me/Holly/iam4him!
Thats a total of 1280 points! IT MAKES ME WANT TO EXPLODE WITH EXCITEMENT!
Ellie/erzsebet put together a wonderful SPREADSHEET for us to keep track of our bonus points for the various clubs here at HIH. Check it out and make sure you're getting all the points you can for Gryffindor!
We also have a nice new TUMBLR located here for you to follow and submit to!
Lions Wandering the Halls of HIH
hh_flourish
Morgan/wizbey: 12% of the Moment
Alex/gryffinwhore: Spiral Queen
Martine/la_loony: Lost in the Woods
Alexandra/coolceruleanblu: The Knitted Cauldron
Steph/alwaysawkward: That's Irrelevant
Jess/rhye: Bloodless
xonceinadream: The Rainbow Connection
Rene/isaac_of_nine: Selcouth
Nikki/stillandstorm: Flower Children
Michi/heartsignite: A Songbird's Dream
We are the only house to have all of our shop spots filled! Head on over to one of our 3 new shops, or any of the shops for that matter, and put in some orders!
hogwartsicons
Michi/heartsignite: 27 icons and 2 forum banners, 14 Tom Felton forum banners and 2 banners
Adrienne/x_____starlight: 11 Emma Watson banners and 13 icons,
Ellie/erzsebet: 16 tumblr-sized banners
Steph/alwaysawkward: 10 banners, 4 wallpapers
hh_sugarquill
Ellie/erzsebet: Wendelin, Untitled Luna Art/Fic, in a world of our own, Haiku
Jayden/slashedsilver: Harry/Draco Drabble Explosion
Rene/isaac_of_nine: The Secret Life of Lorcan and Lysander, Black Track
Beth/prongsy: Hedwig, Howl
Holly/iam4him: Waiting For the Day, Squib, 4 House Acrostics
Heather/lovestyle: Lily Evans
Adrienne/x_____starlight: 4 Doodles, Flying Kites & Winter
Michi/heartsignite: The Funny Thing About Falling, Never is Good, Too and First Glance
Emily/xonceinadream: The Beast Within
Writers Block!
Carola/carola_d won 3rd place in Writer's Block 1!
Michi/heartsignite won 3rd place in Writer's Block 2!
Sorted Challenge!
Ellie/erzsebet won 1st place in Challenge 1!
Michi/heartsignite won 3rd place in Challenge 1!
WOW is all I have to say about THAT!
Keep it up Gryffindor! Participate so much that you give me carpal tunnel from having to write about it!!!!
the_puff_house|Flourish Shoppes|Puffs of the Round Table
By flipflop_diva
Happy June, Puffs! Is it me or did last month just fly by? But here we are at the second month of term, so let’s get to it.
First, May points were announced. Congrats to Caitie/caitieness for tying for Most Active of all of HiH for the month!
While we’re at it, let’s throw out some more congrats, why don’t we?
• Congrats to all our May star sorters: Brook/furrrret, Kaity/kaitydid33087, Johanna/monkiainen and Kristine/flipflop_diva!
• Congrats to Whitney/csichick_2 for being named social director (again!) for the upcoming Hogsmeade.
• Congrats to Steph/lotrangel17 for being named May’s Club Leader of the Month and Caitie for being named April’s.
• And in terms of activities, congrats to Noe/sickle_girl for placing second in the WB contest, “Switch” and first in “A Thousand Words”, to Erin_eyesofpride_ for being a perfect seer in Divination’s This or That Part 2 and to Caitie/caitieness for tying for first in DADA’s Still Recruiting.
• Also, a special congratulatory shout-out to Avi/flyingharmony who got a so-far-ahead-the-rest-of-us-shouldn’t-have-even-bothered-to-play score in our May in-house Sweet Surrender.
In other news, we have a new old Puff! Nicole/nicolle_016, who originally joined in 2009, returned to HiH and was Sorted back into Puff. Yay! Find her intro here and go say hello if you haven’t!
Beyond that, the Common Room has been a little quiet (come out, come out, wherever you are, badgers!), but there are a few things you should make sure you do:
• Read this so you can earn the easiest points ever.
• Sign up to be a Big Badger!
• Sign up to make sigtags for newbies!
• Come play on the spreadsheet!
• Come hang out in chat with Whitney, Avi, Crystal/bluemermaid and me! You know you want to :)
And that’s it for this edition, Puffies! Keep being awesome, and I'll see you next time! <3
ravenclaw_house|Flourish Shoppes|Vikings
By storminmay
Hello again! It's Emma/storminmay, your Claw Correspondent for Term XXIX! Let's just jump right in, shall we?
Be sure to check out the awesome entries for the May In-House! Do you have a Claw-tastic playlist? What do you think of the songs used?
We've had a recent influx of new Claw shops at hh_flourish! With Feathers by Christa/dontjudgeme, Sunshine Daisies Butter Mellow by Amber/amberdowny, Temporary Bliss by Chelsea/interchanges, and Bad Blood by Bei/sapphoatsunset have now set up shop. Go check them out!
(Psst! There are still 3 Ravenclaw shop spots open! Why not apply?)
Which Claws are flying high? Check it out:
Our Star Sorters for May have been Andie/tralfamadore, Jalen/jalenstrix, Chelsea/interchanges, and Colleen/schizophrenic0! Way to go with those elaborated votes on platform_934!
All of Ravenclaw's accomplishments from this term are being showcased in the ~ TROPHY CABINET~. OOOOoooooOOooooh, AAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaah…
I love you, Clawsome bbs~! ♥
cunningfolk|Flourish Shoppes|Vampire
By autumn_mist
Welcome to another edition of "Cunningfolk", where I tell you all about the fun things going on over in the Slytherin Common Room.
• CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER FOR Jess/lopt & Isis/slytherpuff for becoming our NEWEST Star Sorters of Term XXIX!! Speaking of Star Sorters ... have you been collecting your tags? Now everyone who votes on an applicant gets a shiny tag to display!
• Have you been checking out either the Motivational Monday or the Snake Attack Sunday posts? If not, you should! Both are filled with tons of fun ways to earn points for our noble house!
• And last, but by no means least, have you seen the gorgeous new header for our common room made by the lovely Nicole/nickershnick25 ? If not, check it out HERE!
Now on to Slytherins Around HiH!
=================================
SLYTHERINS AT HH_CLUBS:
• Sam/surmise has posted a new event for the Insomniacs Club that can be viewed HERE. Make sure you're on the ROSTER to get those bonus points!
• Cyn/cyn_ful has posted a new event for the Ministry of Magic that can be viewed HERE. Make sure you're on the ROSTER to get those bonus points!
=================================
SLYTHERINS AT SORTED CHALLENGE:
• Congratulations are in order for Tiffany/fangss for taking SECOND PLACE in Challenge #1
• Congratulations are in order for Rachel/moony_blues for PLACINGin the Banner Makers #1 Contest
=================================
SLYTHERINS AT SUGARQUILL:
• Alice/superficiality has posted artwork entitled Unfriendly Black Hotties, which may be viewed HERE
• Cyn/cyn_ful has posted a haiku entitled Pureblood, which may be viewed HERE
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SLYTHERINS AT HH_FLOURISH:
• Don't forget, you can order a MAX of 10 sigtags from ALL our Slytherin shops located at hh_flourish if you find any that strike your fancy. Our current shop keepers are:
Cyn/cyn_ful with Ultimate Surprises
Tiffany/fangss with Riddikulus
Rachel/moony_blues with MoonyDoodles
Olivia/deshi_basara with three a.m.
Nicole/nickershnick25 with Born To Survive
Bella/nicevenn with Let Them Eat Cake
Isis/slytherpuff with Casterly Rock
Sam/surmise with Ɣ∃ʁɨϯɐᎦ (Veritas)
OR if you are graphically inclined yourself, why not apply for a spot?. There is currently still ONE spot available!
=================================
And always remember Slytherin House - You ARE AWESOME!
If you would like to write an article for a future issue of the Daily Prophet, please comment at the signup sheet.