Meet Elfred. A DIY Elf on The Shelf!

I was having a bit of a dilemma the past couple of days. I had this randomly strong urge to get myself a classic Elf on the Shelf so that Dustin and I could start a wacky Christmas tradition. The problem was trying to find one for a decent price, within Canada (I wanted it asap!). I wasn’t about to dish out $40, so after losing an eBay auction for a bunch of little vintage elves, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create my own knee hugger elf. I give you…. Elfred!

This was probably the easiest doll to make… ever. The most time consuming part was the face. I wanted it to have the same body type as those old vintage ones, which really just means you make some tubes of arms and legs and attach them to a body. For the face, the only flesh coloured material I had was a t-shirt fabric… not my ideal choice, but it worked. I painted on the facial features and then outlined the eyes in black thread for definition.

I added snap buttons to his hands so that he could hold that “knee holder” position too. 

Overall, I’m happy with how he turned out. He is totally unique and we can now start him out on some Christmas adventures!  If you’ve been looking for your own Elf on the Shelf, I highly suggest trying your hand at making your own! It cost me zero dollars and only a short amount of time.

Do you follow this Elf on the Shelf tradition?

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By Dana Fox

Founder of the Wonder Forest blog and brand and bestselling author of the Watercolor With Me book series.

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