People often call me creative, but they are very wrong. I am not creative. But I can copy and tweak like nobody's business!! I suppose that is where the engineering part of me comes into play. Generating that initial idea will keep me paralyzed. But if someone else can just get me started, I can take the idea and run... making it better than it already was, or I can just copy it as is. That has been my approach to the Elf on the Shelf this year.
[You can purchase your own Elf on the Shelf here: blue eyes, a girl elf!, brown eyes and brown skin]
(photographers out there, I totally realize my reds are CRAZY out of gamut. My camera hates red. All of my elf images are batch processed due to lack of TIME. I've made peace with it. Just realize that "I" do realize it. Don't judge me. : ) )
Day 9: Jolly needed a bedtime snack.
Day 10: Jolly stepped in reindeer poop and needed a shower!
Day 11: Jolly was held hostage by the My Little Ponies and the Squinkies.
(I morphed this concept from two ideas I saw on Pinterest. This one where the elf is teaching the Littlest Pet Shops, and this one where the toys have tied up the elf. I searched this house OVER looking for all her "Little Pet Shops" as she calls them and could NOT find them. I finally gave up. I found them around 6pm the day of this one... in Shawn's truck in her Hello Kitty metal lunch box. grrrr. I used more of the white fabric I used for the aviator scarf to make the blindfold, and I used some pinkish yarn I already had for the tying up. Notice how the tiny white kitty has the yarn? It's the details, folks, the little details!).
Day 12: Jolly went scuba diving and played with all of the ocean creatures, JUST like Little Buddy does!!! He left a trail from the toy bins all the way to the bathtub.
Day 13: Jolly zip lines with a candy cane from the stockings to the tree. (I totally realized about the time I finished shooting these images that I have him going the wrong direction.... gravity and all. Thankfully the kids aren't there yet. : ) )
Day 14: Jolly makes smores with the Calico Critters dollhouse fireplace.
(this is another one of my favorites and gets more photos. It took FOREVER to set up!!!)
Day 15: Jolly went ice fishing with the fishing game we have and blue jello.
(And I soooooooo forgot to take photos before the sun went down!!! I waited all day for the sun to reach the back side of the house, and then BAM! I forgot! Oops... Let's just say I am less than skilled with my flash...)
Day 16: Jolly went hot air ballooning using a paper lantern from the Little Lady's room.
(I made it using pink shimmery ribbon and a pink solo cup, with a rubber band).
As soon as the Little Lady noticed this, she asked him to take Jolly out. She wanted that Lantern BACK in her room, NOW.
Do you see the mistletoe??? That's the mistletoe he hung in on the day I forgot to take a photo...
I have added a photo to the I Heart Faces Elf on The ShelfPhoto Challenge. I shot these with my D90 Sigma 30mm f1.4