This time of year is special for many reasons. No matter the holiday, astronomical shift, religion, seasonal change, or cultural celebration you associate with, there’s an excitement in the air. For many, there exists a feeling of whimsy and enchantment and a sense that the world is bigger than what our eyes can see. No matter your age, things like elves, gnomes, faeries and other fantastical creatures make us feel “lit” up. We understand that these beings don’t (likely) exist in reality but that shouldn’t matter. Simply put… they are fun and there’s no denying we all love fun! Every year I enjoy getting my children involved with a craft that we then secretly and anonymously place in our neighbor’s mailboxes. This year we went with the theme of elves since my girls have had quite enough of faeries to last a lifetime (for those of you who know me, you very well know my love of all things faerie)! Below is a wonderful project for both children and adults to make for your own holiday collection or for the perfect gift.
Materials: Wooden pegs (Michaels and other craft stores should have a selection of different sizes and shapes to choose from but something comparable such as a wine cork will also work), craft paint, glue (I chose a hot glue gun), felt, fine point marker, other decorative elements to add detail
Directions:
- Paint your peg. This project is completely customizable so paint it in whatever way you desire. I chose to create a set of 6 elves, each a different color of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet… sorry indigo). I preferred to leave the head the natural color of the wood, rather than painting it. Allow time to dry completely.
- Create a hat by cutting felt into a triangle with a slightly curved bottom. Bring the edges of the triangle together and glue into place so that the top point forms the tip of the hat. *This step is really a matter of trial and error to figure out what best works for you. If you are doing a set of elves I highly suggest once you have the correct shape and size felt hat, use one as a template to cut out the rest so that they are uniform.
- Once you are confident that the hat is the proper diameter for the size of the head, place a ring of glue inside the hat and stick it on top.
- Customize your elf by adding embellishments such as: a felt scarf, a face (although I think they look cute faceless), buttons, and other decorative details. I made a set for a friend of mine who works as a family psychologist so thought it would be appropriate to make a set of “emotion elves”. Each color and facial expression represented a different emotion. For example, red = anger, blue = sad, yellow = excited, etc… I also did a set for my brother who is a huge weather guy. Each elf was a different shade of blue and had a symbol on the front that represented a different type of weather: stormy, sunny, windy, etc… My next goal is to make a set of famous women in history, then a set that represents different career opportunities. WOW the possibilities are endless!
