Elfie Money Tin

This cute elf is also a money tin so instead of packing him away at the end of the season, you can keep him on your shelf and save money for next Christmas! Otherwise, use him to raise money for your favourite charity. You can ask your friends or family members to add a coin to the elf, instead of buying gifts.

You will need:

• Empty tin with a slot (I used an evaporated milk tin)
• Enamel paint
• Acrylic or craft paint
• Medium size lid
• Medium size polystyrene ball
• Two extra thick and two standard size chenille stems
• Two large and three small pom poms
• Synthetic hair or yarn
• Googly eyes
• Buttons
• Scrap of red cloth and a bell
• Glue

What to do:

Paint the tin with enamel paint and let it dry thoroughly, this will take a couple of hours. Paint the polystyrene ball in a light yellow or flesh tint using acrylic or craft paint. The easiest way to paint a sphere is to push the ball onto a wooden skewer. I reused a ball from another project, so my elf’s face did not look as smooth as I would’ve liked.

Once the paint is dry on your tin, center and folds one of the thicker stems over the bottom of your tin. Glue it down.

Turn the turn upright and center the other thick chenille stem over the tin and glue. Turn the lid upside down and glue over the chenille stem. glue the polystyrene ball on top of the lid.

Glue the buttons to the tin and the googly eyes to the ball. Cut a small length of the thin red chenille stem and push it into the polystyrene to form the mouth.

Add a pom-pom for the nose and glue the larger pom poms to the legs to make his shoes and the smaller pom poms to the arms to make his gloves.

Twist a small clump of hair and secure in the middle with another piece of the chenille stem or a small piece of wire.

To make the hat, cut a triangle out of the cloth, stitch or glue the longer sides together. Sew a bell to the top of the hat, pull the hat over the head and round off with a green chenille stem.

A cute elf money tin to make with the kids this year to save up for next Christmas or use as a kind gesture for a charity!