Favorite Brands: Rifle Paper Co.

I love note cards and stationery and getting letters in the mail!  One of the stationery brands I have really been loving in recent years is Rifle Paper Co., a company started by a young husband and wife team in 2009 that has quickly become an internationally successful brand and one of my favorites.

The designs used for their postcards, calendars, notebooks and other products are based on co-owner Anna Bond's hand-painted illustrations.  I love the sweet, old-fashioned style of her designs.  Many of them are pretty enough to frame.

Recently, Anna Bond also partnered with Puffin Books to illustrate a new release of classic books.  I especially love the end papers!

Below are some of my other favorite products:

1. Valentine's Day Postcard
2. Passport Notebooks

3. Rose Notebook
4. Christmas Ski Scene Postcard
5. Vintage Mermaid
6. Marie Antoinette Print

And in the wishful thinking category, they also make wallpaper!

Wizarding World of Harry Potter Part Two!

London and Diagon Alley

The Hogwarts Express brings you into a pretty realistic replica of King's Cross Station and out into a little London area featuring Grimauld Place and the Knightbus!

"London"

12 Grimmauld Place

For some reason I couldn't get in...

The Knight Bus!

Hidden behind Leicester Square Station and next to the Leaky Cauldron is the "secret" entrance to Diagon Alley.

The Leaky Cauldron- that's in London

Passing through the crumbling brick archway into Diagon Alley

Lunch at the Leaky Cauldron!  The food was good British fare with a wizard world twist.  I had Toad in the Hole and Peachtree Fizzing Tea.

The amount of detail in Diagon Alley is amazing and shows the level of respect and care with which Universal approached the entire Wizarding World.  Shops come straight from the books and include Flourish and Blotts, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Like those in Hogsmeade, the shops are cozy and realistic.  The best details are in the storefront display windows, including advertisements for Gilderoy Lockhart's newest book and puking pastilles at Weasley's.  

Can you tell I love the Owl Post?

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor serves butterbeer and sticky toffee pudding ice cream, as well as my choice, Earl Grey and Lavender!

Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes!  This shop looked exactly like it does in the movies and sells little stuffed Pygmy Puffs and Skiving Snackboxes.

I wish they let you go upstairs!

Knockturn Alley is located down a narrow passageway next to the Leaky Cauldron and is perpetually dark, which is fitting for its creepy, Death Eater frequented shops!

Borgin and Burkes

Gringotts Bank dominates the back end of Diagon Alley and contains the other major ride in the Harry Potter areas, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. 

The dragon breathes fire every ten minutes
scaring the new tourists just arriving in Diagon Alley.

Like the Hogwarts ride, the time spent in the Gringotts line is almost as fun as the ride itself. You enter the line through the front of Gringotts Bank and make your way into the main lobby.  Again, it was striking to be in a setting so similar to the films.   The ride itself is a fun indoor roller coaster with a 3D video component vaguely following the Gringotts break-in plot in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

Pumpkin Juice to go!

Overall, I thought both areas of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter were fun,  impressive and very well executed.  I can't wait to go back!