Santa Claus Elf

Santa Claus Elf Ornament

designed the Santa Claus Elf ornament after the success of the Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus ornaments. In fact, it was my son who had the idea of the Santa Claus Helper character. So we spent some time discussing the nature of this new character. We concluded that he had to have an ornery personality so, I set to design a mischievous Christmas Elf. This Santa Claus Elf ornament is ideal to celebrate the endless hours wrapping presents. Or to commemorate a baby’s first Christmas. Or to simply, honor the magic of Christmas, or the enchantment of Santa’s workshop.

Santa Claus Elf Ornament Design Process

First, I needed to choose the Santa Claus Elf color palette. I selected green to be its main color with touches of red accents. Next, I gave Santa’s Little Helper a traditional Santa’s hat, just like the Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus ornaments, although I made the hat from cotton fabric of a non-traditional green color.

To accentuate the mischievous personality of Santa’s little helper, I gave him a head full of curls. So, I made the elves’ hair from felt of multiple colors, making the shades of the elves’ ringlets range from blond to chestnut, and everything in between. I hand painted his face with a crooked, playful and naughty smile. I also gave him sylphlike eyes and elfin ears. Finally, to represent Santa’s elf’s sweet tooth that also engulfs many of us at Christmas time I gave him a huge candy cane to carry.

The Toy Making Elves

To represent the toy making skill and a major responsibility of Santa’s Elves, I wanted to give the elf a toy to hold. As I searched through my collected whatnots, I found a white Christmas garland with mini toy charms dangling from it. My mother-in-law had given it to me on my daughter’s first Christmas. There were some Elves holding a rocking horse, a teddy bear or a Christmas stocking. Since I did not have enough toy charms, I kept rummaging through my odds-and-ends until I found a set of miniature wooden blocks that my son had in his stocking one Christmas. This is why other elves are holding mini building wooden blocks.

The Toy Wrapping Elves

I also wanted to make some Elves wrapping presents, since this is an especially important task that Santa’s Elves have. Therefore, the present wrapper elves are holding a shiny wrapped gift with a nice big bow.

Specifications

Year Designed

2014

Size

Actual sizes may vary slightly, approximately 2.0” X 2.0” x 3.0”

Materials

Cardboard, fabric, trims, felt, pipe-cleaners, ribbons, jingle-bells, bake-clay, paint, paper, plastic jewels

Note: Given the handmade nature of the ornament, all ornaments are different. The pictures depict just one sample of the ornament.