The 1958 Tell-a-Tale book of The Elves and the Shoemaker was one of the earliest books I read, when I was four years old. It has always been one of my favorite tales, perhaps partly out of a wishful fantasy that someone magical would come in the night and do all my chores, but I think also partly because Hilda Miloche's illustrations made those elves seem so impishly adorable. So when I saw the book for sale on eBay, I quickly snatched it up. As soon as it arrived, I knew those cherubic little elves were calling out to be made into paper dolls. It became the model for my October contribution to the PDArtist group's monthly trading card exchange, which was then expanded into a greeting card for the paperdollnews Christmas Card exchange.

Click on either of the pictures from the book to view scans of the entire book. Click on any Christmas card image to open a large version of that image in its own window.