A mum has taken the Elf on the Shelf craze to a whole new level with a set of adorable snaps of her seven-month-old daughter – as the naughty mischief-maker.
Claire Thistlethwaite, 32, dressed up little Jorgie in a bright red elf costume and posed her array of scenes in the run-up to Christmas.
Claire and husband Luke, 31, managed to catch Jorgie’s mischievous grin as she causes mayhem around the house, even tying up big sister Lucie, 11, in one picture.
The youngster has also been snapped posing with a black marker pen, while a moustache and the words “bah hum bug” are daubed on Luke’s head.
Another scene has a topical hue to it, with kisses at an elf kissing booth “elflated” from 10p to 50p “due to Brexit”.
Claire said: “It all started because I used to enjoying costumes for Lucie at Halloween.
“This Halloween she was a little too old to allow me to make her a costume so I did one an Edward Scissorhands one for Jorgie instead.
“We ended up winning a local competition and people started saying we should come up with a costume for Jorgie for Christmas.
“At first we weren’t going to do it everyday but after we posted the first picture online we got loads of messages asking when the next one was going to be.
“So it turned into something we were doing every day.”
Claire, a test manager for Capita, said the idea to reincarnate Jorgie as a human elf was developed from the best-selling Christmas book, The Elf on the Shelf – A Christmas Tradition.
She said: “We had the Elf on the Shelf for Lucie last year, but because Lucie got a little old for it we decided to replace the doll with Jorgie.
“But it still appears in a couple of snaps even though it is Jorgie who has taken over.
“A lot of the scenarios we have created this year are based on ones we did with the doll last year except we have made them more baby-friendly.
“A lot of the sets were made from stuff we had lying around the house.
“We also recycled things like shampoo bottles in order to make elf shampoo.”
Claire said she spends between half-an-hour and an hour putting together each set.
She said: “We had a list of what we wanted to cover in the sets so we have been putting a few of them together over the weekends.
“We’ve been doing a few scenes at a time over the weekends just to make sure we have enough for each day.”
Claire, from Heysham, near Lancaster, Lancs., said Jorgie’s pictures have led her to gaining a new-found celebrity in her local town.
She said: “We’ve had people we have never seen before stop us in the street asking if she is the elf baby.
“She has been really good and co-operative and I think she likes the attention of having her photograph taken with all the scenes.
“Luke and Lucie have been more than happy to play alomg but they have asked me when I am going to appear in a picture.
“I’m not really one for putting pictures of my children on social media but we haven’t minded doing it this time because it has made so many people happy.”
Jorgie will continue to appear in Elf on the Shelf pictures right up to Christmas Eve.
