New Dog Sewing Pattern

I'm ever so excited to be releasing this pattern today it's a brand spanking new dog doll pattern! I decided to release him a little early as I've had a few requests for a dog pattern since I discontinued the old design last week.

My very first Elf Pop pattern was a fleecy dog and as a homage I wanted to release a dog as the first new animal patterns. As a child my father worked a lot with dogs as he did a lot of work in the farm industry and was a huge fan of works of Brian Plummer. I have many a childhood memory of taking our dogs for long walks up the hills and caring for litters of puppies. We currently don't have any dogs in our home however I would love a little west highland terrier called Dougie and Evie is currently obsessed with pugs (she wants a boy called Lulu!).

These little dogs are adorable and you can make this little puppy wuppy as a girly dog too (I've added an felt rosy cheek option). Trust me these will be a hit with the little ones, I could barely keep it on my desk long enough to get some photos taken. Here's the youngest ELF making sure it was play worthy!

You can find the Puppy Dog Sewing Pattern in our

Webshop & Etsy Shop

I'd love to see these little guys with funky fabric bodies or in diffrent colours, so remember if you sew one you have to show me, because I LOVE seeing what you all create from my patterns.

Happy Sewing
Raynor x

Snow

Snow. Indian Ink: coloured pens: digital colour

I'm a doodler. I constantly have a scrap of paper around me which I love to scribble on as soon as an idea pops into my head. This picture is part of Illustration Friday, if you have never heard of it then go check it out. It's a super fun way to spark a little creativity in your life, no matter what skill level you have at drawing. It's amazing how one word conjures up completely different images in people minds, and that's the beauty of it.

The girl ELFs also love doing the challenge, as they love drawing and get to use 'mummys special pencils' (watercolour pencils). Not only is it an amazing insight into how their little brains work but also a great way to spend time with the kids even for just 20 minutes.  I'm going to get the girls a little sketch book each so we can and do the weekly challenge together and I'll share what we all come up with.

Jay & Rory Boy Doll Sewing Pattern

Our final Dude pop boy doll sewing pattern has arrived!
Our last boy is Jay and his pet toy Rory , a noisy little lion. I have to admit this is my favourite of all the boy dolls, I just love how his curly hair turned out. Also Rory is so cute this little couple stole my heart as soon as I seen them, how about sewing up one of your own.

Jay and Rory is available from our the Elf Pop Website and Etsy Shop.

So I'm a little sad that the doll and dude pop ranges are now complete. I've had a lot of fun creating the dolls, but I've been desperate to let you guys know about new patterns I'll be releasing soon. I'm working away on a range of animal patterns, yippee. I've actually have been designing them since April and tweaking here and there until I was 100% happy with them. I can't wait to introduce them to you so do check back or I highly recommend joining us on or like us on facebook or twitter for updates on pattern releases.
Happy Sewing
Raynor x

Creating an elf tradition

Christmas celebration have finally started in the Elf household as we put up our Christmas tree on the 1st December every year. Recently I've been looking for people Christmas traditions and many of you may know about the 'Elf on a shelf' phenomenon which is sweeping over the USA. I stumbled across it though Pinterest and the numerous pins which give parents lots of great ideas of how to have fun with this little guy (or gal). Unfortunately here in the UK it costs £30($50) for the set, and although I love the idea, that was just way to expensive. I contemplated making my own and found great tutorial  here. However I received my 'apple' moment when I noticed the Elf girls had a few mini la la loopsys which were now out of action as their tiny little arms had been broken off, my 4 year old chews EVERYTHING. So I decided to give them an elf makeover -  the dolls not the children!

Jewel Sparkles and Cookie Crumbs before

I used acrylic paints and paper cover wire to replace their arms, however this clothespin doll arm tutorial would work too. In an attempt to have the elves look like the girls I attempted to make teeny tiny glasses for one of them using super glue and very thin craft wire and then sort of pushed them up the side of the dolls hair and stick in place with glue.

I had been discussing for a few days that Santa was sending some elves to the girls to investigate what they wanted for Christmas and to check if they were being naughty or nice. So this morning they woke up to find a letter which stated that they must show Christmas spirit for them to appear.

Once we put up the christmas tree I told the girls to dip a little finger in a pot of glitter and sprinkle it over a box and then to open it up, inside was the two elves.

I asked the girls to name their elf and Lois decided to call hers 'Ruby' as she had ruby slippers like Dorothy and Evie decided to call hers 'Candy' as she likes to lick candy canes!

The girls have been instructed they must not touch the dolls when they see them or they will lose their elf magic, and they believe they report back to Santa every night.

Candy

Ruby

Ruby and Candy are currently tucked away in a little knitted stockings hanging on the tree (you can get the pattern for the stocking here) ready to get up to mischief over the next few days! I can't wait to try out some of the fun ideas I've gathered, and i'll report back with some of their adventures.
Keep tuned.
Raynor x

Edit
I just wanted to add that if you like to idea of a lala loopsy doll instead of the official 'elf' doll then you can buy ready made Christmas/winter themed dolls  they are:
Holly sleighbells - looks like an elf
Mittens fluff and stuff- polar bear theme
Swirly figure eight - figure skater
Ivory ice crystals - snow queen
Pete R.Canfly - peter pan themed boy doll, looks elf like.

Or make your own doll using an Elf Pop doll pattern if you would like something a little bigger. I'd love to see what other come up with from this idea so send in photos to our facebook page or leave a comment with a link to your blog/photos so we can see.
Happy Elfing