Day 7 - Ornaments

Last year, I started, I mean CLYDE started, the tradition of making Christmas ornaments with the kids' Christmas lists on them. It's a really cute way of preserving the memory of what they liked each year. I think they will be especially cute when the kids are grown.

He leaves all the supplies for kids to make the ornaments and a little note telling them what to do. He actually leaves a note everyday, but I don't always post them on here. The ribbon he left to string the ornaments with happens to match the sweater he was wearing the other day. ;) What a wonderful little coincidence!

The best part about these ornaments is that it finally got my kids to sit down and write out their Christmas lists. I had been nagging them to do it for days! Then Clyde asks them to and they sit right down and do it!

Here is a pic of last year's ornament next to this year's ornament on the tree.

Merry Christmas!

Day 6 - Monkeying Around

Clyde showed up this morning with some friends! He and these monkeys were hanging out on my banana stand. Little stinkers! ;)

Back in Flagstaff, I found these adorable Christmas Sock Monkeys and I knew I had to use them somehow in this year's Elf on the Shelf adventures. They actually worked out perfectly, because Katie and Matthew had been asking Clyde if he could bring them plush versions of Elf on the Shelf so they would have something to snuggle with at night. And those things are like $13 a piece, when I got these guys for $6 or $7 a piece.

The kids were excited! They were dying to get their hands on them, but didn't want to ruin Clyde's magic by taking them. He left them at their bedroom doors when he went back to the North Pole.  ;)

If you'll notice, Clyde has some cute, little monkey ears of his own. When stocking up on Christmas craft supplies at Michael's before we moved, (there isn't a Michael's here! SOB!), I got a bunch of felt sheets.

I don't know what I'll use it all for yet, but I realized that I could potentially make all sorts of accessories for the elf with just felt! For the ears, I chose a few shades of brown that seemed most monkey-ish to me. 

Then I just free-hand cut out an outer ear and inner ear shape for each side of Clyde's head. I glued them together with felt glue, but I'm sure any liquid glue would work. I just happened to have felt glue from a Halloween craft. 

And I simply taped them on to Clyde with a small loop of scotch tape. If you are worried about the tape sticking, you could probably hot glue them on and then just pop the glue off the next day.

I tried it out in Flagstaff first. :) 

I have to say, it's much easier to take decent pictures here. The lighting is so much better! I think there are a few factors at play. #1 The sun isn't as harsh at sea level as it is at 7,000 ft. #2 This house has many more windows and white walls, which allows for a more diffuse, softer light. I can take pictures of the elf in place, where he shows up and they turn out great! Not so much last year. I had to wait for the right time of day and try several different angles. Or move lamps around. It was a huge pain!

Day 26: Elf portraits

Christmas Eve is around the corner. Which means Clyde will be leaving soon. This is making Katie sad. The countdown to Christmas has been turned into the countdown until Clyde leaves. To make the transition a bit easier, Clyde decided to leave a few portraits of himself around the house for the kids. He used the printer/copier/scanner to make a few prints. But he got a little carried away at the end. :)

With his end! Ha ha ha!

At least this time he stayed in place. I think his hands resting against the edge of the printer helped keep him up.

The first thing the kids saw, though, was the full portraits he taped up in their rooms.

Then, when they found him on the printer, the bum shot was a fun surprise.

I didn't think this one up on my own. I got it from Lil Blue Boo. Again, she's awesome. She cut the tag off her elf's bum. I should do that, too. Maybe he will stay in place better.

I've been picking up a bunch of last minute items for Christmas. I am super excited about a surprise I got for Jillian. She is the super Harry Potter fan in the house. Besides Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, I got a chocolate mold in the shape of frogs. Candy melts were on sale at Michael's and I stocked up!!! Dark chocolate and Candy Cane. I'm going to make a few chocolate frogs to give her as a Christmas surprise. The Candy Cane ones are to make peppermint covered oreos! Yay!!! I'm thinking they'd be another good neighbor gift. :) 

Random extra shot of first graders making gingerbread houses. I've been hovering a bit lately. I think you can understand why.

P.S. I think that is blackberry jelly on his face, from lunch. :)

Day 24: Elf houses?

Remember the Christmas themed bird houses I told you to go get at Michael's? Well, the time has finally come for them to appear! 

Clyde arrived with the three bird houses, a fresh supply of paint and some new paint brushes. He's sitting on our banana hanger thingy, but he kept sliding over. I was able to put him back without the kids noticing all but two times. They think it is okay for adults only to touch the elf if he needs help. That would be the lesser of two evils. I've had a problem with him slipping sometimes. Scotch tape does not work. It doesn't stick to his little felt butt. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

Silly guy thought that they might be elf houses! :)

The sun has come out again and made the snow even more beautiful!

And since the roads were clear, Hubby grabbed the kids and ran off to go Christmas shopping for me. :) And I took the opportunity to wrap as many presents as I could. I still haven't figured out how to wrap Thor's hammer. I'm sure that's an ancient riddle from some where.

One of the things I have been planning are some fun stocking stuffers from Clyde. I found these cookies at Barnes & Noble and had to get them!

One for each! They were expensive for cookies, about $3 each, but for a once a year present from an elf, it was worth it. I was at Barnes & Noble to pick up some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Flavour Beans from Harry Potter. The kids talk about them all the time and I thought they would be a funny gift from their mischievous elf.

If you have no idea what these are, they are a mixture of regular flavored jelly beans and disgusting flavored jelly beans. Dumbledore famously popped what he thought was a toffee flavored bean into his mouth only to discover that it was earwax flavored! :p

In case you can't read it, the flavors are:
Banana, Black Pepper, Blueberry, Booger, Candyfloss, Cherry, Cinnamon, Dirt, Earthworm, Earwax, Grass, Green Apple, Marshmallow, Rotten Egg, Sausage, Lemon, Soap, Tutti-Fruitti, Vomit, and Watermelon.

I often sneak bits of the children's candy. I will not be pinching any of these. ;)

Day 18: Two weeks til Christmas!

I love making paper chains at Christmas. We usually do red and green, sometimes with white. But in the U.K., it's traditional to make them with all the colors of the rainbow. I love that, too! So bright and colorful.

Clyde made a tiny paper chain to count down the days until Christmas.

He taped it to the side of the refrigerator. The kids didn't find him right away, because it was a little out of sight. They counted the little rings to make sure there were 14. :) Silly kids! Of course the elf got the number of rings right! And he'll be removing one ring each night.

The little boogers made me go out and get some construction paper so they could make some rings, too. :)

Teeny, tiny rings. :)

Review: Days 1-7

I'm a perfectionist. Sorta! It turns on and off. The perfectionist switch flipped on for Elf on the Shelf for this year. So I worked and worked to plan out a great Elf on the Shelf schedule for this year. The first week didn't quite work out the way I planned, but that's okay. I figured out solutions to the problems that popped up and will be even better prepared for next year. You can download my original schedule. Or just look at what actually happened this week.

Here's a quick recap of the first week:

Day 1: Clyde's arrival!

(Full post for Day 1.)

He showed on on our dining room light, because it's a tradition for us.

And he brought us a North Pole Breakfast! :)

Day 2: Making Ornaments

(Full post for Day 2.)

Clyde showed up in our bookcase with glass doors, holding an ornament that he made with his Christmas list inside.

He left all the supplies we needed to make our own.

Day 3: Hiking through the candy cane forest

(Full post for Day 3.)

Clyde appeared wearing his backpack, hanging among the candy canes.

He told us to go on a hike and collect pine cones.

Day 4: Bird Feeders

(Full post for Day 4.)

Silly Clyde was making a "seed angel".

Seeds to make bird feeders with the pine cones from yesterday's hike. Using peanut butter, of course.

Day 5: Popsicle stick crafts

(Full post for Day 5.)

The kids found Clyde on the Christmas Tree, he was holding a cute, little snowman he had made by painting a jumbo popsicle stick.

We had a great time creating our own versions, (with all the supplies he left).

Day 6: Going to the park

(Full post for Day 6.)

The kids were sick. So, Clyde showed up sick, too.

He left a note telling the kids to get some fresh air at the park. They did! :) they also slept quite well that night.

Day 7: Candyland

(Full post fro Day 7.)

Classic Elf situation: Candyland. It was extra special, because, since moving, our games were still in boxes in the garage.

Clyde got some other games out for the kids to play, too. Monopoly: Star Wars Edition was super popular.

That's week one. Hopefully, we'll all feel better this next week and Clyde's elf shenanigans will go off without a hitch!

Day 6: Going to the park

Now, all three kids are home sick! But it's nice outside and and the park is just down the street. So, at some point today, we'll all get dressed and get some fresh air. Clyde was going to be hanging from a homemade tire swing. A toy-tire swing that is! Hanging from the ceiling by gray striped baker's twine. Because I love baker's twine and will find any reason to use it. :) I want to eventually have it in every color!

Anyways, since the kids are sick, Clyde decided to be sympathetic and crashed out on Matthew's little couch.

He's got a little medicine cup and some cough drops. And a band-aid. "Why a band-aid?" Why not? :) He's on a pillow of cotton balls and has a kleenex blanket. I hope Clyde gets better soon. And I definitely hope the kids get better soon!

They really enjoyed making the popsicle stick ornaments and kept making more. They want to make even more today!

And some random good news: Last year, I got the cutest gingerbread chalets from Trader Joe's. But there isn't a Trader Joe's in Flagstaff. The closest one is in Prescott. Which isn't close at all! :( Luckily, hubby had to go to Phoenix for work and is going to stop by TJs and is going to get them!!! Yay!!!! Plus, I asked him to get a bunch of extra TJs paper bags. Their Christmas ones are amazing! The front and back are printed with gift tags and the sides are printed with patterned strips to make a cute paper chain.

Day 5: Popsicle stick crafts

Day 5: Popsicle stick sleds ornaments.

It's difficult to do the prep work for a surprise craft for the kids while they are at school, if they don't actually go to school. Two were home sick yesterday and are home sick, again, today. I had planned to pre-make some popsicle stick sleds like these ones I found at tidbits. But I didn't get the chance. I had finally found some popsicle sticks at WalMart. (They had restocked, because I was there the other day and no luck!) I had to choose between buying a box of 1000 regular sized ones or a bag of 75 jumbo ones. I decided to get the jumbo ones. For two reasons: #1 What the heck am I going to do with 1000 popsicle sticks?! #2 The jumbo ones were half the price. Not per unit, obviously, but 75 will still last me quite a while!

So, there I was last night, wondering what am I going to do now? I decided to consult my best friend, Google. She's always there for me. :) I googled "popsicle stick sled ornaments" to see if it was possible to still get it done or if the kids could do it on their own and I found this great, simple idea. Popsicle stick ornaments! No sleds, just turn the sticks into cute ornaments with paint and scraps! And, it was a perfect craft for jumbo sized popsicle sticks. I already had brand new craft paint for when we're going to paint Christmas bird houses. And googly eyes, because who doesn't have googly eyes! I painted a quick example, I mean Clyde made one really quick to have in the morning. And while it dried, he crocheted a simple scarf to finish it off. He is such a talented elf!

He "hid" on the tree, because where else would you hide with an ornament craft? But he left all the supplies for the kids on the dining room table.

The kids were very excited to get to work. We spread out some newspaper. Okay, it was a Best Buy flier, but it did the trick! Those Black Friday/Cyber Monday adds are thick! Not joking, it was 40 pages long! They were half -pages, but still!

 Excited! 

 Sick kid bed head. Waiting for the paint to dry.

Clyde left 3 popsicle sticks for each kid. They made a snowman one first. I had the idea of making an elf one, too. A few tips: I used a toothpick to apply the glue for the googly eyes. I didn't have brown paint for the elf's hair, so I mixed a little orange with a little green and added one drop of red. It was the perfect brown! I also used a toothpick for the thin, white stripe on the gift the elf is holding. And we used a sharpie for the smile on the snowman and the elf. Also for the black line creating the split between the elf legs.

By the way, we didn't add a string to our popsicle stick ornaments. We just leaned them against some branches. It worked just fine! But you could easily add a piece of yarn if you wanted to.

Matthew's Snowman

Katie's snowman. It's a girl. See the lips. :)

 

Their cool mom might crochet some scarves for the little snowmen. But they look good without one, too. 

 

If you're a little sick of crafts, don't worry. Tomorrow's activity is going to play at the park. We have a great park less than a 1/2 mile away, but we don't go very often. The kids will be very happy that Clyde says we have to go to the park. That way, I can't say no. :)

Day 4: Bird Feeders

Last night, as I went to move Clyde, I found the saddest little note. Our middle child, Katie, has been sick the last two days and couldn't go on the hike to collect pine cones yesterday. She was disappointed that she couldn't participate and left Clyde this little note:

"Dear Clyde, for tomorrow can you think of something I can do and I am sick. <3 Katie"

Luckily, the preplanned idea for today was something sick-child friendly. :)

And that's doubly true, because our youngest, Matthew, woke up with a fever this morning. So, today, I am home with two sickies.

Clyde showed up this morning making a "seed" angel.

I've seen the snow angel in flour or powdered sugar, or even rice, idea everywhere! But I wanted it to be related to an activity somehow and not just a mess on my counter. I came up with the "seed angel" idea. The pine cones, collected on the hike yesterday, can be used to make simple bird feeders.

Clyde left us all the supplies and a little note to tell us what to do.

Mini sunflowers grow wild everywhere around here. And we passed several dead and dried ones on our hike. I happened to point them out to the kids. :) They are very excited to make some bird feeders to help out the little birds now that the flowers have all died. :)

(Plus, Hubby got the exact tree I wanted last night, on sale! So we'll be putting our tree up today!)

Tomorrow: Popsicle stick sleds. Now, if I could just find some popsicle sticks! Seriously! I been to three stores already! No luck!

Day 3: Hiking through the candy cane forest

Clyde is quite the silly elf! He showed up this morning with a backpack on, hanging from some ribbon, next to several hanging candy canes.

He tied up some ribbon on my cupboard doors. Ran it through the straps of his backpack and hung several candy canes along it.

Okay, okay. Maybe he had some help. Like, where did he get that adorable backpack?

I crocheted a simple backpack for him a few days ago. But that's as far as I got as to where and how I was going to pose him for today. Then, last night, as I was writing out his note telling us to go on a hike today, I included a line about how he loves to hike through the candy cane forest. ("Elf", anyone?)

 
And I was inspired! I have a ton of candy canes that I store to decorate the tree with each year. I thought, "I could make some sort of candy cane forest for him to be in!" If I had thought of this idea before 1 am the night of, I would have made it much better. Here's how: get a piece of floral foam from the Dollar Tree. Blanket it with fake snow. Stick a bunch of candy canes in it. And then pose your elf among the candy cane forest!  I'm definitely doing that next year!

Posing your elf can be a problem. His/her legs are not made to stand on. They are really made for sitting. But if you lean the body just right, your elf can appear to be standing. That's why I went with the ribbon last night. Your elf can appear to be doing lots of things if he is held up by string. Some people use a dab of hot glue to get their elf in position, but I don't want to potentially damage my elf. I had a hard enough time deciding to clip the little string that held his hands together! I can always use a little piece of double sided tape for when I need his hands back together.

Well, I've got to go now. We have a hike to go on! :)

The 2012 Elf on the Shelf Ideas and Activities.