T

he beauty of blogging is to discover traditions that you wouldn’t normally know about. Last week while I was sharing one of my Christmas crafts over at Thinly Spread I encountered a Christmas tradition that was completely new to me: An Elf on the Shelf. This tradition started in America not so long ago but it’s been gathering momentum especially because it seems like a lot of fun. You have an elf hiding on the shelf reporting to Father Christmas at night if the children in the house have been good or bad so in the morning the elf is always in a new place and in a different position. I like the idea so much that I decided to make my own elf. Though I am very proud of my elf, I don’t think it is the right one for this purpose as for starters it doesn’t have long arms and legs to wrap around things. However I decided to keep it whilst I keep working on other ideas that are more suitable.

Our elf is made completely out of recycled materials, this is what I used: a Yakult bottle, coloured markers, tissue paper, a fabric pouch (those containing spare buttons when you buy new clothing’s), newspaper, paper tape, scrap felt.

1.       Draw red stripes at the bottom of the bottle

2.       Make a little ball with a piece of newspaper and insert it into the fabric pouch to make the head of the elf

3.       Insert the head inside the bottle neck and secure with paper tape

4.       Dress the bottle with green tissue paper; use an elastic band to hold it firm at the waist and tape at the top.

5.       Finish the neck with a piece of green felt (or any other fabric)

6.       Draw facial and clothing details with markers

7.       Cut a triangle of red felt to make the hat; fold it over and hand stitch the sides

8.       Slot the hat on the gnome’s head

Our elf is a little rough around the edges, but it is made completely from left over materials.