DIY {Christmas Pinecone Elves}

 Last year, inspired by Martha Steward, I made these little pinecone elves, one for each member of our family.







I made these based on Martha’s tutorial, with a few tweaks here and there (since I didn’t want to sew) and added the little nametag.

Supplies:

Pinecones

Wool felt (for hat and scarf)

Pipe cleaners (for arms, legs, and I added some around the hat)

Tiny felt balls (I used them for hands, feet, top of hat)

Hot-glue gun

3/4-inch wooden craft bead

Black marker (eyes)

Red crayon (cheeks) Step 1:   Make arms and legs: Cut 2 pieces, each about 4 inches long, from pipe cleaners. Hold a pinecone (about 2 inches long) so bottom end points up. Tuck 1 piece of pipe cleaner between the scales of the pinecone, positioning it as the arms. Position the other piece as legs. Secure with a hot-glue gun.  Bend ends of legs to make feet- here I attached the tiny felt balls to the end of the pipe cleaner to make hands and feet, instead of making gloves like Martha did (I tried the felt feet and hands on one elf, then gave up).   Here’s a picture from her website depicting how to make the body and head.



Step 2:  Make head: Hot-glue a 3/4-inch wooden craft bead (hole side down) to the end of the pinecone. Draw 2 eyes with a black felt pen.  Draw cheeks with a red crayon.   

Make scarf and hat: Cut out a rectangular piece of felt for the scarf and tie around the neck.  For the hat, cut a piece of felt in the shape of a triangle and glue the ends together.  Place a tiny felt ball at the top point of the hat.  (Martha sewed hers, I used hot glue). 
Step 3:  Make nametags:  I used my computer to print the names in “Kingthings Christmas” font on red paper, then hole-punched one end to stick onto the arm.

Here are Martha’s elves in action: And here are mine:

P.S. I got my elves to stand up by gluing the pinecones to these little flat wood pieces that I found at Walgreens in a bag of something similar to potpourri.

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