25 Ideas for Christmas Elf Antics

Meet Sprinkles, our elf who visits with us for the Christmas season and reports back to Santa each night.

He brings mischief and merriment from the day after Thanksgiving through December 26th, or even till New Year's Day. He's supposed to fly back with Santa on Christmas Eve, but Santa gives him permission to stay for Christmas Day to see the boys open their presents. Sometimes he stays longer, if he's just too tired to make his way home after all the Christmas preparations.

As more of my friends have elves arriving in their homes, I thought I'd share some of Sprinkles' ideas for bringing magic and delight to your home this Christmas season:

1. Arrive with an Advent calendar for the kids.
2. Hide in the Christmas tree, maybe with a new ornament.
3. Hide in the freezer.
4. Hide in the car to greet the kids after school.
5. Arrive with elf or Santa hats for the kids.
6. Hide in the Christmas village -- it's like being back at the North Pole.
7. Hide in the bookshelves, maybe with a new Christmas story.
8. Write a tiny note in funny elf writing.
9. Draw a picture for the kids -- of them in the snow, of him and his elf pals, of Santa.
10. Leave tiny elf prints around the house.
11. Steal mom's camera and take pictures of himself making mischief.
12. Hide in the fridge after turning the milk green.
13. Nibble elf bites out of the Christmas cookies when you're not looking.
14. Sit in the kids toys -- a doll house, a play garage, a baby doll stroller, a remote control car.
15. Hide among the stuffed animals.
16. Surprise the kids with a mini Christmas tree for their own room.
17. Show up at a friend or family member's house while you're visiting there.
18. Hide in the stockings.
19. Build something out of the kids' Lego sets.
20. Bring a sweet treat -- chocolate Santas, candy canes.
21. Hide in the wreath.
22. Sit in the chandelier.
23. Hide in mom's china hutch -- a tea cup is a perfect spot for putting up your elf feet and relaxing.
24. Bring a toy or treat for the family pet.
25. Bring new Christmas pajamas for the kids. (Maybe mom and dad too?)

When the boys were younger, and less able to refrain from touching him, Sprinkles usually stuck to the higher places for hiding -- the top of the TV or dressers, curtain rods, the top of a seldom-used lamp, in the china hutch and in the chandelier.

Since our boys have enjoyed Sprinkles' visits so much, he's been known to visit on Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day and even Halloween. When he visited on St. Patrick's Day, he joined the leprechauns in making some green-themed mischief.

Do you have an elf who visits at Christmas time? If so, I'd love to hear about his antics in your home.

(Note: I have no ties to the Elf on the Shelf company or products, and only wanted to share ideas we have done in our home with our elf, or are planning to do this season.)

The Simple Things: Boys + Day Off + Imagination

Since the boys had Friday off for Veterans' Day, I worked from home and got to enjoy watching and listening to their pretend-play adventures. They took out the Tinker Toys and Robby made potions while Joey made "fire-blasting rockets." I love how their creations were unique to their interests, yet their play flowed freely into each other's worlds. There was some jumping on the couches. A few short-lived squabbles broke out. Then the couch cushions became a house, which they set about "furnishing." They ate a real snack there, but also cooked an imaginary feast for their stuffed animal pals and celebrated a birthday for one of the pals. Later the house became a store, where they sold art, writings and flutes. After lunch they played with Play Doh and then made leaf rubbings. We cut out the leaves and they pretended to be trees and tornadoes, throwing the leaves around the room and laughing with joy.

I love seeing them play together as the best of friends, using their imaginations to enjoy all sorts of adventures. The perfect simple pleasure for a once-in-a-century day.

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Check out more "Simple Things" photographs on Rebecca Cooper's blog.

Some Halloween Craftiness at the 11th Hour!

Thanks to Pinterest, I've seen thousands of inspiring ideas. My problem is getting around to changing that inspiration into action. With Halloween kicking off the end-of-year holidays, I think I finally have some motivation going -- it only waited till 10:30 last night to finally kick in (yes, that would be the night before Halloween)!

I had picked up a bag of Halloween pencils from Target several weeks back with the intention of making some kind of little tag or card to go with them for my oldest to hand out at school. Despite the early purchase, I still hadn't done anything with them. So I fired up Photoshop and made little flags to wrap around the pencils.

Halloween Pencil Flags

Everything is from the Too Cute to Spook elements pack from Creativity by Crystal, except the font I used for "From your friend Robby," which is Harry P from dafont.com.

When the boys get home this afternoon, I have these two little guys ready to greet them in the fridge at snack time...

Juice Box Mummies

I have seen this idea in several places, but one of the original sources I can trace back is here from Parents.com. I used crepe paper and googly eyes, and I made another one for Robby's lunchbox but just did black marker eyes (sometimes too much distraction at lunch isn't a good thing).

I also happen to know that our "Elf on the Shelf," Sprinkles, will be arriving later with a surprise too, but more on that another day.

Thank you Pinterest for some extra Halloween fun. Happy Halloween everyone!

The Simple Things: Boys + Rocks + Water = Simple Pleasure

I love Rebecca Cooper's idea to document the simple moments each week (see her blog, Simple as That) but have never tried it myself. So here's a start...

The boys and I enjoyed some time this morning at the beach. It was unseasonably warm -- nearly 80 degrees in October! We stopped at the playground, swung on the swings, spent a little time just throwing in rocks, and took a walk. Honestly, this simple activity of throwing rocks into the water could have entertained them for much longer -- next time I think I'll have a seat and just let them throw rocks as long as they like.

My Personal Ella Publishing eBook Challenge

Of the scrapbook challenges I set out for myself, my Ella eBook challenge is really a series of challenges in one. These are the eBooks I own and will use in my challenge:

• How to Scrapbook Your Personal Heritage, by Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvey
• Free Super Sampler, by Ella Publishing Co
• Stretch Your Sketches, by Donna Jannuzzi
• A Year in the Life, by Write.Click.Scrapbook
• 20 Simple Secrets of Happy Scrapbookers, by Stacy Julian and Lain Ehmann

I happened to win "How to Scrapbook Your Personal Heritage" in a giveaway on Donna Jannuzzi's blog and the Free Super Sampler is, obviously, FREE (go check it out!). The rest I've purchased, which you would think would be a good reason to go and MAKE something after purchasing. But no; I've had several of these for a long while now and have not made anything as a direct result of the inspiration and ideas I found. I certainly found plenty of ideas, but just never acted on them.

So now my challenge is simple: read through these eBooks and use each to inspire at least one layout. In other words, do something with the ideas I have collected here. 

First up: Stretch Your Sketches
Of all the eBooks, this one with sketches seems the most obvious for action. If one buys a book on page sketches, it seems one should pick up the book and actually do something with those sketches! In addition, I have admired Donna Jannuzzi's style -- I like her color and pattern combos, and the way the photos are often neatly grouped in boxes. I definitely wanted to try out one of her sketches.

This was my first page inspired by Stretch Your Sketches:

(Papers: Me & My Big Ideas "A Kid Like Me" activity pad (red dot), SEI (striped), Making Memories (green dot), assorted scraps (blue and red); letter stickers: Recollections from Michael's; brads: Recollections from Michael's)

I ended up being so pleased with the result, I got started right away on another page:

 

(Papers: Recollections "Autumn" paper pad (pumpkin print), Bo Bunny "Shabby Princess" (diamond print), Die Cuts with a View (orange textured cardstock), Recollections cardstock (off-white and brown); flocked tags: Heidi Grace; journaling spot: Making Memories; letters: Punch Out Alphas from Remember When)

With Donna's pages as inspiration, I used patterned paper and bright colors a little more boldly than my typical way, particularly in that first one. Left to my own devices, I would have just used that bright red dot paper in another strip or that orange paper in a smaller dose on a kraft or white background, but I felt these ways were more in keeping with Donna's style, and I love the result!

I must admit I was inordinately pleased with myself after creating these two pages and left them out in the dining room so I could admire them in passing. In addition to being so happy with the tangible outcome, I just plain enjoyed drawing direct inspiration from a relatively different style -- sort of stretching my design muscles out of their usual routine.

For my next challenge, I'm looking at 20 Simple Secrets of Happy Scrapbookers and already have a list of at least five possible pages to make with the prompts from that eBook. I like this feeling of having scrapbook homework assignments to keep me motivated and trying new things.

On a Roll...

This year I have been creating scrapbook pages more often and consistently. I've been averaging at least one digital or paper layout a week, which for me is great. In the past I was more of a scrapbooking-in-spurts kind of person, going weeks or months without touching my paper trimmer, then creating for a few solid weeks. Now I'm always thinking about my next layout and moving through a lot of recent and past stories I've wanted to tell. In short, I'm enjoying my hobby immensely and feeling inspired and creative all the time.

One of the things that has helped me are lists, not just the lists of layouts I want to make, stories to tell and photos to take, but also keeping a list of the pages I complete - a great way to see just how much I'm creating, especially in the case of digital layouts since I don't print them right away.

I've also started sharing my layouts online more often -- on this blog, on Flickr or in the class galleries for Big Picture Classes. Not only is it another visual reminder of what I've completed so far, but receiving comments from fellow scrapbookers about a page is very satisfying. Especially since my only other feedback generally comes from my husband who has no appreciation for color selections to match a mood or the use of white space.

Another thing that's been working for me this year is trying more online challenges, whether I complete them on time and share them or just work at my own pace. I have gotten several great ideas -- for stories and designs -- from challenges and they help me be more productive since they give me a sort of jump start, plus a bit of motivation in the form of a deadline.

I've liked the challenges so much, I've made up a few for myself for the year. They include:

• Make a page inspired by something I've liked on Tumblr.
• Make (at least one) page inspired by each of the eBooks I have bought from Ella Publishing Co. (I currently own five eBooks and have my eye on the latest one, Scrapbooking the Everyday, so it's time I do more than just look at them.)
• Complete a layout challenge from a site other than Write.Click.Scrapbook. (I find so much inspiration from WCS, that I feel like a stalker sometimes, so I am forcing myself to branch out a bit.)
• Make a page every day for one week (I love the idea of a layout a day for a month, but sometimes I like to aim low).
• Make a home decor item using my scrapbook supplies.

I'll share the results of my challenges as I complete them -- just one more way to keep me turning out layouts this year.