It's A Girl!

My goodness. I believe my schedule for the next 5 weeks is all booked up. We have school parties to do, decking the halls to finish, Thanksgiving casseroles to cook, presents to find & wrap, overdue honey does to complete, crafts to make, college kids to pick up, college kids to take back, clothes to pack, animals to board, flu shots to cry about, specials to watch, and hopefully time to chill! I have a lot more crafts planned. Maybe I can squeeze a few more into blogland before Santa comes :) 

Today I am going to give you the pattern for the Girl Elf Shaker. I realized that I have been making nothing but guy felties, i.e. Snow"man", Gingerbread "man", Rudolf (of course he's a boy), and even the little Scottie dog is a guy! So a Girl Elf was a must! I love her hat. There are little peppermints on it!

Something occured to me today. Wool felt may not be available to everyone. Regular felt from Hobby Lobby and other craft stores will work fine- just don't iron it-please don't ask me how I

 know :(  I also think the shakers would be adorable made out of scrapbooking paper. Of course you would use glue instead of thread. The patterns really don't have to be modified. To make the paper stiffer you could still use the cardboard method. I am not sure how the strips would work. I am sure, though, that you would have to cut notches in the strips every 1/4" on each side in order for the  paper to curl around the two circles correctly. I am curious now, so  in January I am going to make a few out of paper. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the Christmas Elf (Girl) Shaker!

She is made basically the same way that the Snowmen Shakers are using the "Elizabeth method". Their pattern is here.

Supplies:

wool felt, 12" wooden dowel, paperclay, jingle bell, matchbox(aka shaker)-filled with 4 small buttons & 4 tiny jingle bells & taped shut, stuffing, embroidery floss to match, thin cardboard or poster board-cut about 1/8"-1/4" smaller that head front and head back circles 

**Cut out all felt pieces

1. Sew 5/8" x 12" strip of flesh felt to one circle. This will be your face piece. Trim strip excess.

2. Stitch cheeks on, being careful to note placement so that hair doesn't cover cheeks when hair is added later. Stitch mouth on with embroidery floss. Glue nose and eyes on. Stitch eyelashes.

3. Glue cardboard onto wrong side of face and head back felt pieces.

4. Add shaker (instructions here ) and painted dowel. Glue dowel in place.

5. Sew back of head on, stuffing after 3/4 stitched.

6. Stitch hair front to hair strip (5/8" x 12"), stopping strip just short of the curl.

7. Now, stitch hair back to strip, stopping about 1 1/2" from the end. This will help make it easier to place the hair onto the head.  Place hair onto head, finish stitching, then glue sparingly to front.

8. Cut out hat and trim. Stitch trim on. Stitch hat closed along sides. 

9. Make peppermint buttons, let dry overnight and then paint. Let dry and then cover with mod podge.

10. Glue small buttons onto hat and stitch on jingle bell. Let glue dry. Fold hat over and with a tiny drop of glue, glue in place. You can use a pin to hold it until glue dries.

11. Glue hat onto head. *Tiny drops of glue work better with this type of project. Too much glue can make a big mess. Most glue drops that I use are a no bigger than this "O" size. I also like to use a toothpick as a tiny brush to dot the glue on.

12. Add her collar, by cutting out the tiny circle & sliding it up the dowel and gluing in place. Glue big peppermint buttons on.

I used Elizabeth's clever idea of turning my desk organizer on it's back. This allows me more surface to put stuff on. It took me forever to do this, mainly because I kept on forgetting to do it, but also: where to put all of the stuff that was stored in it?

Back of their heads.

Hope you enjoy making these fun little elves. Boy Elf tutorial to come either tomorrow or in the next few days! Let me know if you make her. I would just love to see it!

Happy crafting,

Holly