Leprechauns are the mischievous cousins to Santa’s Elves. If you’re lucky enough to catch one you will be rewarded with prosperity, health and endless happiness. I’ve got a dozen of these little guys sitting around looking for a home. If you are interested in one, just drop me an email with your mailing address and I’ll invoice you through PayPal. They’re $20. each, shipping is included. I’ll be shipping by Priority Post on Tuesday morning (February 28th), so let me know.

elves@saracino.ca

If you’re interested in a little Leprechaun history, check out this video  - http://www.history.com/videos/leprechauns#leprechauns

Want to make something delicious to treat your family and friends . . . here’s an easy cake pop recipe . . . York Peppermint Pattie Cake Pops !

Bake a package white cake and set aside to cool. In the meantime pulse 24 snack size York Peppermint Patties in your food processor and place in a bowl.  When your white cake is almost cool,

crumble it or pulse it in your food processor and add it to the peppermint patties.  Mix well and form into two-bite size balls. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for 20-30 minutes.

Just before you take them out of the freezer, melt some green candy coating in your microwave. Drop a few balls at a time into the candy coating and roll around. Gently lift them out and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Because the balls are cold the coating will set right away. You can go back and add some flourish with swirls and criss-cross patterns.  Enjoy!

Check out one of my earlier posts for another delicious St. Paddy’s day recipe.

La Befana was one of the inn keepers who turned Mary and Joseph away on their way to Bethlehem. According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger they stopped at the inn of La Befana to ask directions. They invited her to come along but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd asked her to join him but again she refused. Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd bearing gifts that had belonged to her child who had died. She got lost and never found the manger.

Depending on what region of Italy you are from her appearance ranges from a benevolent old woman to a witch like hag. She always carries a broom and food treats.

The Befana you see here was part of a two year exhibit at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec.

On the left is a close-up of the hand detail on this original one-of-a-kind sculpture. This version of La Befana is my interpretation of a more benevolent northern Italian Befana.

An excellent children’s book is “The Legend of Old Befana” by Tomie dePaola.  The traditional Italian poem that children sing as well as a more indepth history of La Befana and a few different versions of the story can be check out the following website . . .

http://www.historyandwomen.com/2009/12/legend-of-la-befana.html

http://saracino.ca/storeBefana.html

These next two elves use very interesting techniques. The purple and green elf on the left was dressed with sticky-back felt sheets from the craft store.  No sewing was involved what-so-ever. The felt has a peel-back paper and sticks to itself.  The embellishments are glued on to finish the jester elf.  The little elf on the right is also a no-sew elf.  His costume was painted onto his body. Ribbon defines his waist and little bells accent his collar and sleeves. These delightful elves were a huge hit.

Below on the left is “Elv’is”. He comes with a gilded instrument, sheet music and an attitude. Next up is the snowflake elf on the right. He’s wearing a red felt tunic with snowflake cutouts.

But . . . I think the one that boggled my mind was this next piece . . . the lady who put this together collects everything “COKE”.  The boy elf’s hat is a bottle cap. Check out the elf sandals.  The Coke refrigerator holds Coke and snowballs. An amazing vignette.

Here are just a few more creations to check out.  Don’t forget if you are interested in a naked elf just send me an email and I’ll ship you a naked elf.  They’re only $10 and include the patterns. You can email me at elves@saracino.ca

I have some bad news – we’ve sold out of the new 2011 Elves. However I still have some Elves from last year’s collection available – Albert, Jacob, Rowen and Oliver, but I only have few “Gwendolyns” left.

Naked Elves are still available as well.

Stay tuned, some pictures of creatively dressed elves are on their way in the next couple of days.

Here’s a photograph of my granddaughter Cameron – I’m reading her the story of the Elves and as you can see a group of them are eavesdropping.

Below is a platter of sweets I made for her 2nd birthday party.  You’ll recognize the mice from a previous post. If you liked those, you’re going to love the peanut butter pretzel cookies in the middle of the platter. They are sooooo easy to make and both adults and kids loved them.

1 cup of peanut butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of icing sugar

2 tablespoons of softened butter

mix together and place a dollop between two pretzels.  Refrigerate or better yet, freeze for 15 minutes. Melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips and dip half the cookie in the chocolate and place on parchment lined cookie sheet to harden.  Refrigerate. Warning – you may have to make a double batch.

I sewed on some buttons and slipped on his knickers.

Then I removed his feet.  The reason I did this is because I found some great skates that were hollow inside. So the challenge was to create an extension to his leg that would fit into the skate. I tied a 3 inch dowel to each leg and then taped it in place with athletic tape. I taped it all the way down the dowel so that the glue would have something to stick to. I filled the cavity of the skate with glue and inserted the wooden legs into the skate and let it dry for a couple of hours.

After the legs dried.  I gathered the bottom of the knickers and sewed on a little white fur around where the knickers meet the top of the skates.

Here he is all finished on the dash board.

As a matter of fact, I think that will be his name . . .  ”DASH”.

I was shopping at Home Sense (Canadian version of Home Goods) and came across a little sweater ornament – the perfect size to dress a naked elf. Only $3. The neck is a little tight, but I can loosen a few stitches to get it over the elf’s head. I’m going to dress a naked elf on the drive to Virginia tomorrow. It’s a 10 hour drive so it will keep me busy for part of the drive while my husband listens to sports recaps on the radio. I’ll take pictures of him as I create his new costume and post them in the next day or two.

These little sweaters are referred to as miniature versions of the Ugly Holiday Sweater – but I think they’re cute. It’s going to work out very well for a naked elf. . . . stay tuned . . .

Well, Dorothy Bullis from North Carolina has submitted the first photograph of a custom Elf and she’s adorable.  Dorothy knitted this little sweater for a teddy bear, but it works well on an elf too.  Dark hair with little red bows replace the usual white hair, a little extra makeup and a scarf and some gingerbread buttons finish her creation.  Great job Dorothy!

That brings me to a reminder that the next shipping date for Elves is November 22nd. So please make sure to get your order in if you haven’t already.

This weekend I am participating in a Holiday marketplace. I have a dear friend who has opened her beautiful home to showcase the work of a few artists and artisans. The house is a late Victorian house that has been renovated in a modern version of the style of the era.  Beautiful classic details right down to an ornate tin ceiling in the kitchen. The setting is perfect to showcase my Christmas Elves and my one-of-a-kind sculptures.

The Santa and elf above is called “A Magical Sleigh Ride”. The next photograph on the left is “Giacomo” an whimsical Jack-in-the-box.

On the right are examples of some of my jewelry. These are made with Italian red coral and Hawaiian Turquoise and fresh water pearls.

One last photograph is of one of my larger pieces. Below is a 4′ Victorian Father Christmas. His velvet underdress is decorated with sparkles and sequins that makes him seem magical in the soft evening light.

Of course the elves are everywhere. In the Christmas tree, playfully frolicking on the staircase, hanging from the chandelier and welcoming guests on the wreath hanging on the door. They are spilling out of baskets on the floor throughout the house. I wish all my customers could visit, but Ottawa is a long way for most of you. But just in case you’re in the area,  you’re invited.

Before I sign off, I want to share a delicious fun project. These confections look impressive and are so easy to make, you can even get your kids to help. I’m bringing a batch to Tennessee for Thanksgiving.

Chocolate Mice!

The ingredients and directions can be found at

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/chocolate-cherry-mice-800468/

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I actually started making original elves in 1999. I made 75 little characters and sold out in two days at a local Christmas show. That’s when I decided to try my hand at reproducing the elves in resin and offering them as a limited edition series. The first series was made available for Christmas 2000, but in a very limited quantity. I created five elves dressed in velvet knickers and sweaters. I can’t find the photographs, but here’s an article that appeared in DOLLS magazine that shows three of the characters from the very first year. Their names were Samuel, Gabriel, Sebastian, Bartholemew and Simon.  I made a very limited quantity of these elves, since I was still testing the market.  I sold out that season.

The following year, 2001, I introduced three new characters and increased the quantity I was making.  However, I did not give them names because most people were associating them with people they knew and renaming them. The 2001 Elves were dressed in the same knickers, but were wearing striped shirts instead of the sweaters.

In 2002 we introduced a new costume and three new characters, including a grumpy character. The costume consisted of the same velvet knickers, but this time they were wearing checkered shirts with buttons and suspenders and instead of striped socks, they wore the solid coloured socks. Again, I didn’t name them, but I did have pet names that I used when I worked on them.  The laughing elf on the left reminded me of “Simon” from the first series, in the middle is “Bart” and the grumpy one on the right is “Malcom”.

By this time a circle of collectors were asking for the original elves so they could have the complete set, so three of the original series were re-introduced. They were wearing the original sweaters and had the striped socks.  Here are Samuel, Sebastian and Gabriel.

In 2004 we took a break and focused on selling our current stock. But in 2005 we introduced three younger characters in a more complex outfit. They were wearing the same velvet knickers but with little belted jackets with a ruffled peblum . We added a little fur trim to the collar and used checkered bows instead of the solid ones.We used the solid coloured socks as well. That season we found out my son and his wife were expecting twins, so if you met us at a show I definitley had twins on my mind and often posed two of the elf you see on the left as a twin set. I wish my memory was what it used to be, but the only name I remember in this collection was Franklin.

In 2006 along came my twin grandchildren – Leo and Eva as well as three new elves, including a bearded older elf called Frederick. These little guys were dressed in similar costumes to the 2001 collection, but we added a felt vest with a braided trim. We added the trim to the hats as well.  I wish I would have doubled the number of elves I made that year, especially the little old guy with the beard – he was a very popular elf with a very kind and gently face.

The 2007 collection featured three elves with no pants. They wore striped leggings and little jackets with tails that curled at the ends. The jackets were trimmed with a fuzzy piping and we added fur trim to the hats and the jacket collars. The elf in the middle was a little chubby elf. I still have a few sets available from this collection. We were at a show at the end of November when we found out our daughter was engaged. My son-in-law said the wedding plans started 5 minutes after their engagement. It’s true . . . 2008 was all about planning a wedding. I took a break to focus on my family and as it turns out on my health – an appendix attack landed me in surgery and forced me to slow down a little. I planned on getting back to making elves, but 2009 was about a new grandchild – Cameron was born on November 29th and I spent two months in Virginia helping out with the new family addition.

My customers were getting anxious – it was time to get back to making elves. I decided to make my comeback with something I had been promising my collectors for a while – a Santa scaled to complement the elves – and . . . to make up for lost time, instead of three, I introduced 5 elves with the Santa, including the first ever “girl” elf “Gwendolyn”. This time they were wearing felt overalls and we used the braided trim on the hats again. Gwendolyn proved to be very popular. I had resisted making a girl elf because tradition says that elves are only boys – the girls are fairies and pixies – but everyone loved her.  That’s why I made two girl elves this year. I still have a few complete sets of the 5 elves and the Santa available.

So here we are in 2011 and I’ve made the last collection in the elf series. I’ve pulled from what I know has been very popular in the past with Jacque, another bearded elf and two twin girl elves, Amanda and Emily. Elements from previous costumes have come forward such as the sweater, the felt vest and the fur trimmed hats. The girl elves are a little more involved to make with their checkered skirts and long braids, but they are perfect cheerleaders to end the series.

So if you have 31 elves you have the whole collection.

I have a little treat for my loyal customers – a chance to make your own elf.  I have a box of naked elves that are waiting for new outfits.  If you would like to create your own custom elf let me know and I’ll send you an elf and the patterns to make knickers, leotards, socks, t-shirts and overalls and skirts. They are $10. each but they are not available through my website – they are only available to my existing customers through this blog.  If you are interested you can email me at elves@saracino.ca

One more thing . . . .

I tried this new recipe by Giada deLaurentis for Nutella Cookies and they are delicious. Try these, you are going to want to add these to your Christmas Cookie collection.

Chocolate Nutella Cookies 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of Nutella
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter in an electric mixer for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and Nutella and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

2 Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between each. Add the vanilla and mix for 10 seconds.

3 Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda (do not skip this step as sifting eliminates clumps of cocoa). Mix into the butter mixture on low speed until fully incorporated, scraping down the bottom and sides at least once to ensure even mixing. Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts and refrigerate the dough for ten minutes.

4 Spoon tablespoon-sized drops of dough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheets for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Yield: Makes 6 dozen.