Elf Ornaments in Progress - Part One

Well, I have regained my focus and creative motivation. It is June already and in a short few months we will be into the thick of things so I am making as many elves as possible this year. In the past, I drew the faces on the elves. After working on the gnome this year, I decided to paint them. There is a sweetness to their faces that gets lost when just drawn so I think it was a good decision, albeit time intensive. 

 The elf heads start out as unfinished hardwood beads. The tiny elf heads measure 1/2 inch and the regular sized elf heads measure an inch. I coat them with gesso and then base coat them in 'Santa's flesh'. Believe it or not, this step alone takes a great deal of time.

 I then lay in the whites of the eyes to give me some sense of feature placement. Since the mini elf heads are so small they have black eyes where the regular sized elves have blue, green, violet or brown eyes. I also made a number of 'Eskimo' faces. I know that term is archaic and unflattering to the Inuit people but since I am inspired by the designs of the 50's and 60's, it is a rather appropriate image. I do hope that the finished 'Eskimos' will be so darling that no offense is taken.

mini elf heads (closeup)

more mini elf heads

I finished 53 mini elf heads and 20 regular sized elf heads. It took me most of the weekend and Monday to complete them.

Regular sized elf heads.

Regular sized elf heads (closeup)

Mini elf heads. 

 

All that remains is to finish all 73 heads with Lascaux Acrylic Varnish with UV filter. Then on to creating bodies and attire for each one. That will be another post. I think it is probably the part I love most about creating the little elves. It is in this step that their personality really comes out. 

The clincher is the wool roving hair. 

This year I added 3 colors to my repertoire: Lavender, Iceberg Blue and Natural.

I expect there to be some super cute elves in the near future so stop by my facebook page for the most up to the minute updates! :o)

Latest WIP (Warning: Image Heavy)

Happy Snowday!

Here is the new angel design. Much simpler, it really highlights the halo, face and wings.

I embed glass beads into the glue that adheres the halos to the angel's head.
All about the details!

A visual hodgepodge! My first show of the season is this weekend so I have new angels, paper clay ornaments and snowmen. I have also been working on making price tags. I find those little white things they sell rather distasteful and unappealing, so I am making my own. I hope it will look more pulled together than those little white buggers. In the past, I loathed these so much that I didn't use any( I do like to talk to folks!) and learned that that is an awful idea. Some folks don't want to talk to you, they want to check out your prices. So this year and in coming years, I will use and reuse my little price tags.I printed out little blue price points (above) on the same background image as my business card with my business font, cut them out with a paper punch, attached them to a piece of pretty red card stock, punched them out with the punch again and added a little white snowflake to the solid red back. On one side, a little snowflake/peppermint, on the other a lovely price all dangling from a little silver thread. I know, a lot of work but I'm weird like that. It's the little details that get me every time. :o)

The First Star

First finished Gingerbread man.
There are a few more that I'm working on today that are even cuter!

A portrait shot of the first snowman

I got a little carried away on this guys scarf but he's very cute and it's very fitting.:o)

I have so many other things that are nearing completion but that will have to wait until another day or maybe next week, I do have price tags to finish :o)

Newest WIP

I've been in paper clay land for much too long and put off my little felt elves so this post is an update on those little felt folks .


I have been sitting on spun glass halos for about a year. Had every intention of making angels but my original vision included hand feathered wings out of feathers I made out of fabric and wire. I started the wings a long time ago and will get to them some day but in addition to the halos, I also had Dresden Angel wings and, voila!, My very first angel ornament was born. I chose to give her red hair since I am a redhead and while every ugly witch under the sun has had red hair, very few angels ever do.
I also finished another ice skater. Another red head, I realized why she was put on the back burner. When applying her hair, the glue bled through and gooked up her hair. My remedy was to add glitter *snow* to her hair and dress and a little extra embellishment to her headband. The oops is concealed and she looks awfully cute. I don't know if I would do this again unless faced with a similar problem but she was too cute to discard and leave unfinished.


This Poinsettia elf was listed on Etsy and sold within an hour of her listing. She is now on her way to the UK. I hope her new owner loves her as much as I did! They really are like little children. :o)

This Holly elf was a companion to the Poinsettia elf. I have a Mistletoe elf in the works in addition to another set of *foliage* elves done in black and white. Also in the works: More angels, Dorothy, the scarecrow and Glinda the good witch from the Wizard of Oz, Hockey elves and tin soldier/ drummer boy elves. When I start making elves I find it very hard to stop. I also find it very hard to finish some because I need to work out a new idea before I forget it. I hope to share more elves as well as the finished paper clay pieces I've been working on next time. Now I'm back to little felt folks! :o)

Kindred Spirit: Stephanie Smith Brannock of Two Kazoos

I love Steph! We met on Cafe Mom but became better(albeit virtual) friends on Facebook. She and I seem to be always coming up with new crafty ideas at about the same frenetic pace(although her completion rate is way higher, I blame it on my 2 year old but know it's more likely her efficient organization ;o) The cement on our friendship was the fact that we are both CRAZY hockey fans! So without further ado, here is Miss Stephanie of Two Kazoos, in her own words!

I am a 41 year old stay home mom, I have a 5 year old son and a 3 year old daughter. I have a BA in Graphic Design and do some freelance. I am a kit artist for The Red Porch digital scrap booking and those items are also available on Scrapblog. I’ve lived in Oklahoma most of my life, am there now, but consider Austin my home and can’t wait to move back.

I started making felt clippies in 2007 and opened an Etsy shop as a way to make a little extra money. I added embellishments and French barrettes upon requests from friends and it took off from there with bracelets, tote/gift bags, clip holders, wall hangings, ornaments and travel tic tac toe games. I currently sell the tic tac toe games, banners, magnets, bookmarks, tag ornaments, play food and embellishments. My favorite thing to make are the tic tac toe games. I’d like to start making simple dolls, bags, more play food and embellishment kits this year along with several advent calendars.


I’ve been a graphic designer for over 10 years. It’s not my passion although I groove on all things design related. My passion is being creative. I have so many ideas and I pull from every source I can. I have notebooks and binders full of inspiration and concepts.

*If you could invite any 5 people (alive or dead, it is a theoretical question, LOL) to your place for dinner, who would you invite and what would you serve?

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Gordie Howe, Leonardo DaVinci, Bill Hicks, Anita Shreve

I’d make empanadas and (husband) Scott would make his salsa, queso and jalapeno soup.
There would be plenty of beer, paper and writing implements!

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Steph as much as I have and will visit her shop and fan page! You never know, you may just find something you can't live without. (She made me a fabulous winter themed tic tac toe game that I absolutely love!)

We're exhausted!

But happy! The Laurel Show went well and it was nice meeting new folks and catching up with old favorites! The whole family is tired though especially mommy and the bug! Early bedtime for us, then it's up early to fill some orders from etsy. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of my table and new products just added to busy little elf.