DIY your "Elf on a Shelf" for $5 or less...

Last year I remember seeing all the "Elf on a Shelf" pictures and stories all over facebook and pinterest.  I searched for the "Elf kit" at Target and couldn't believe it was $25+ for the book and the elf.  I figured I would wait another year since the kids would be a year older and more into the whole elf thing.  Well, it's almost Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before I know it.  I though I'd get my stuff together for the holidays and plan out a 25 Days of Christmas for our family.  I always wait until the last minute to put things together, but I didn't want to do that this time around.  One of the first things on my list was to make an elf myself for less than $10.  I googled 'DIY elf on a shelf' and came up with so many great ideas of inspiration.  I ended up doing something similar to this elf  http://bubblynaturecreations.com/2011/12/diy-girly-elf-on-shelf.html

My supplies were:  $5 Barbie like doll from Dollar Deals, a pair of old Christmas socks, red and green felt (1sheet each).  The only thing I had to buy was the doll.  Bam, I had all ready met my goal of making an elf for under $10!  The most difficult part of the whole thing was sewing the pieces.  If sewing isn't your thing (I'm not an expert seamstress or anything), you can certainly hot glue or even hand sew the pieces together.  Here are some photos of the whole process:

My supplies

First I cut the fur cuff of the sock

Then I sewed it, but had to redo

After undoing the cuff, I sewed part of the sock for the top and attached them to each other

Her fancy elf dress, but I didn't want her to have a wardrobe malfunction

In comes the addition of the halter strap.  I machine sewed one side.

Put the dress on the doll and then hand stitched the other strap

Very cute, but she might get chilly traveling back and forth to the North Pole every night!

Perhaps some arm warmer sleeves could work!  Just sew tubes for the sleeves.

She needs some for her legs too.  Here's a shot before I turn her pants inside out.

Now she's looking more like an elf on the go.

I really liked the idea of doing the arm sleeves in the sock material, but it was all ready unraveling.  I decided to go with the red felt instead.

She's almost finished, just missing her elf cap.

I still had some of the 'fur' left over and decided to do an ear muff head piece instead of a cap.

I used enough fur to cover the top of her head and used green felt for the strap to hold it in place.

This little elf needs a place to sleep until her reveal so a shoe box and some fancy dish/hand towels should do.

I finished the box off by wrapping it in Christmas paper and tucking her in!

I think our sassy little elf will be loved by both my little girl and little boy.  If they love the elf adventures, maybe she'll come back with a little friend next year!  I'm going to enclose a letter from Santa as well and I used this one for inspiration http://followinginmyshoes.com/elf-on-the-shelf-letter-from-santa/.  I loved how Jesus and Santa were paired together in this letter.  Sometimes people forget the real meaning of Christmas and this was a great example of reminding us that it's not all about Santa and wanting.  I also enclosed the story of the elf from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elf_on_the_Shelf

I hope this has inspired you to start your own traditions with your little ones.  My biggest challenge is always following through to completion with my endless array of ideas.  I'm a few steps ahead of myself this year so I think we're starting off in a good spot!  Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Elfing!