Monday, December 9, 2013

Making Buddy Bendy!

Our elf, Buddy has been a busy elf since he arrived last Saturday morning with a North Pole Breakfast.


More pics and details from our North Pole Breakfast post HERE.

Sunday morning we found him reading Christmas stories with Griffin's "Hohos" :)

Monday we caught him hanging out in the M&M jar...

I'm pretty sure Tuesday he was watching a Christmas movie when the boys got up and I forgot to take a picture :)

Wednesday he was hanging out with the nativity scene...

And Thursday he was reading Cat in the Hat on theboys bookshelves.

Thursday night Buddy must have anticipated that we would be iced in because he brought the boys each a bird house to paint and some hot chocolate to drink while painting.  He even wrote them a note about how thankful we should be to have a nice, warm house to live in and how every time we see the bird houses hanging outside we should thank God for our home. :)



Saturday morning we found Buddy taking a sail around the Christmas tree.  Ahoy, Buddy!

Now... on to the important stuff.  Buddy has been at our house for three years now and EVERY night Buddy wishes that he had "bendy" limbs... because it would be so much easier for him to do things if his arms and legs weren't just hanging there.  So on Saturday night he went under the nice and work up posable!

 Y'all will have to excuse these REALLY crummy cell phone pics (and my really bad polish job... I painted them and hadn't washed the excess off yet... am I the only one who CAN'T do a clean polish job?!?!?!).  The surgery took place on my bed at 11:45 pm and I only snapped pics to show Dave what I did.  OOOPS!

Buddy with the supplies... wire cutters, wire, needle and thread, teeny scissors (or a seam ripper if you're fancy like that). 

I took Buddy's hand and removed about 3 stitches from the end.  Be careful not to cut his gloves!

I had this in my craft closet (at this point Shay Shull is rolling her eyes at me... yes, Shay - I randomly have galvanized steel wire AND a craft closet. hahaha).  If you're not as prepared as I was you could always use a wire coat hanger or a pipe cleaner.

I stuck the wire into his arm (all the way up to his body), cut it a little longer than his arm, bent the end over and then shoved it inside.  I stitched his little hand up and then repeated with the other limbs.  Honestly, you could probably use hot glue to close him up... the hole is really teeny.  I am by no means a sewer and it wasn't hard :)

 He still needs some velcro dots for his hands, but surprisingly, I didn't have any on hand - so that will come later :)

Sunday morning he could operate the candy cane crane with ease!  (and the wire is bend to give him little feet - which I LOVE!)
 

Dave joked that Buddy was now like Wolverine from X-Men (I guess he has metal in his body?!?!  Sorry - I'm not up on my x-men trivia) but I'm just excited to see what he has up his bendy little sleeves for the rest of the season :)

And I'll leave y'all with this...


Don't forget! Tomorrow Erika and I are going to be doing our Favorite Things Linky Party.  Your favorite thing has to be Under $10... how great will this be to get some Stocking Stuffer ideas?!?!! Can't wait!  Be sure to link up with us tomorrow!!!

9 comments :

  1. Here's how my elf is getting bendy arms...1. I will call Andrea McAnally and tell her I'm coming over 2. I will drop off our elf at Andrea's house and wait for Andrea to finish her 436 other projects before she can get to my elf 3. I will pay Andrea to make him bendy 4. I will drive home

    I should blog my method. It seems almost as simple as yours! XO

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  2. I don't think I've ever been more impressed with you. And that's saying something.

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  3. Oh I did the exact same thing the other night bc I was tired of trying to figure out how to prop her up! I really don't understand why they wouldn't just sell them already bendy since people end up hacking them!
    I actually split the seams up by the arm pits and butt cheeks instead of the ends bc I knew my sewing would be sloppy and it's well hidden there.
    I love looking at your simple elf ideas....sometimes it's a bit overwhelming to see all those ultra creative elf scenarios, so that you very much for sharing yours!
    ~ Kristin
    Thisoldartroom.blogspot.com

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  4. Brilliant!
    I think that all of your local friends are going to be dropping off their elves at your house, like Shay said :)
    www.floralandfudge.blogspot.com

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  5. I loved this so much I tried it today while my kids were napping. I used pipe cleaners & hot glue, and went in through the back upper legs and back upper arms, and it worked very well! I also used Velcro on the hands, like you suggested. Took about 20 minutes. Thanks so much for this idea, and the encouragement that anyone can do it!

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  6. Such a good idea! Who knew it was so easy. Although I am an awful sewer (sew-re not sewer lol) so maybe I should try it before I say it's so easy! Haha

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  7. Thank you!!! I have seen this mentioned other places but you made it look super easy! Off to look for some wire in my craft closet! :)

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