Firstie Fridays: BADGES!!

Happy Friday, Badgers! I hope everyone has been celebrating a lot since last Firstie Friday.

Today I’d like to talk about something very near and dear to my heart: badges. I may love badges even more than I love points, and I lurve points. So let's get straight to the...

FIRSTIE TIP OF THE WEEK: Collect badges!

Badges are collectible bits of love.

Badges are wonderful for many reasons:

·         you can wear them for your robes and let everyone know how amazing you are;

·         you can make project pages for them to see just how super-amazing you can be in a month or in a term or over Hogsmeade Weekend;

·         you can be mega-amazing like kaypendragon of Ravenclaw and do this; or

·         you can come up with something even more über-amazing than that to collect and display your achievements!

If you do that last one, please share your idea with us in the comments!

So shiny. So very, very shiny.

Before you can show off your badges, though, you have to earn them. Where can you find badges to earn in the Den? I’m glad you asked! Here’s a list of some of the places I know you can find Hufflepuff badges. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, so if I left something off, let me know!

·         Quidditch Locker Room

·         IHU thread 

·         Order of the Phoenix advisory thread

·         OWL advisory threads

·         Huffletainment Center

·         HECK

Badges are also extremely fun to make, so I’m going to give you one just for reading this post. That’s right – you get a super secret special badge!

Thanks for reading, Badgers! Congratulations on your Firstie Fridays badge! Now go check out the awesome threads I linked to above and get yourself some more badges. Huzzah!

Spinners & Weavers plus a June Update

Do you own a spindle, a wheel, or a loom? Do you really want to and want some tips on spinning and weaving? Hop on over to the Spinners and Weavers thread in the Den. There are badges for turning in a spinning or weaving project during term and also the illustrious Triple Crown badge for spinning, dying, and using your handspun in a project. 

Our spinners and weavers range from beginners to advanced so don't be shy, jump on in! They love to help and ooh and ahh over your projects. In my research I decided to ooh and ahh as well. 

A beautiful woven shawl by cariboustar:

Some beautiful yarn spun by Hufflepuff abroad minsue for get NEWT:

Nobody has yet claimed the illustrious Triple Crown yet but head on over to the Spinners and Weavers thread to see some awesome examples of these fibre arts!

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Earlier this term The HuffleBlog featured The HuffleTainment Center and HECK. With a new month in progress they have new topics and -Alongs. Head in over to The HuffleTainment Center to talk all things music or head over go the new June HECK thread to participate in the Professor's challenge of honoring a Hogwarts professor in a June turn in (with an awesome Lego badge!) or join the Beat the Heat-along for June with lots of great patterns perfect for summer. And don't forget, if you need some help fitting a project into a class HECK is the place to go!

Take a Break

Sometimes we all need a break from crafting.

Wait? Did I just say that?

But it's true. As much as we all love crafting there are times when we need to out down our needles, hooks, spindles, or whatever else we're working on and relax. So this week the HuffleBlog is featuring two great places to take a break in The Den. 

First up is The HuffleTainment Center. Let's start with a little history: when I joined the cup a year ago we had The HuffleLibrary and the HuffleTheater. Those have since merged into The HuffleTainment Center, your place to talk all things movies, books, TV shows, and more. 

Every month there is a theme in The HuffleTainment Center with badges to be earned if you participate. For the month of May the theme has been the 1990s. There is a badge available for watching anything from the 90s (Blossom or Full House anybody?) and a badge available for crafting something inspired by the 90s. 

Not the biggest 90s fan? Don't worry, you can talk about anything entertainment related in The HuffleTainment Center including the latest Doctor Who or that new author you've found that you just can't stop reading. Just be careful to alert anybody of spoilers in your post in huge capital letters...or maybe just avoid them!

Another great place to relax in the Den is to pop over into the HuffleGames thread. They are already on game #2 of the term. The first game was a getting to know you question and answer game where questions ranged from silly to a bit more on the serious side. 

Currently HuffleGames is hosting a word game. You don't even have to catch up, just jump to the last page and join in. Take the five letter word in the last post and create a new word by changing only one letter (rearranging is allowed). For example, at the time of publishing, the last five words had been played:

Twins

Winks

Knows

Known

Wonky

It's a great place to stop by and join in quickly when you just need a break for a few minutes from that OWL or whatever class you're working on!