How to Make Easy Pinecone Gnomes

Sometimes we like to make homemade ornaments for visiting friends and relatives. This is a really easy, last minute, homemade gift that will bring some whimsy and charm to anyone’s Christmas tree. You could also make these without the string and they could be fun winter decorations instead of ornaments. 

This is a super simple activity and only requires a few items so it’s easy for little kids too. As an added bonus, it sends you on a little outdoor adventure to collect some materials before you start! Enjoy! 

 

Materials you will need: 

• For the hat - felt or other fabric, you could also use colored paper
• For the nose - small pompoms work really well, but you could also get creative and use a button, a bead, or any other small roundish object
• For the beards - stuffing. If you don’t have actual stuffing on hand you can use a cotton ball, or take stuffing from an old pillow
• String or yarn 
• Hot glue works best to attach everything together, but any glue will work, it will just take longer to set

Easy Instructions:

1. Go on a walk and collect pinecones (watch out for sap). It doesn’t really matter what kind of pinecones, but the stronger ones will work a little better. You can make big or small gnomes or some of both. 
2. Cut some yarn about 10"-12” long and knot it to make a loop
3. This is the only step that is a little tricky. I suggest using some scrap paper to make a template for the hat to make sure it fits how you want on the pinecones you have found. A quarter circle works well for a taller gnome hat and something closer to a half circle works well for a shorter hat. Just play around with it a bit and see what will fit on your gnome. Then use the paper to make a template for your fabric.
4. Once you have your template, use it to cut your fabric for your cone hat. Before you glue the hat together, put the yarn loop through the top, make sure the knot is big enough so it doesn’t pull through. Glue the inner edges of the fabric and twist your fabric into a hat shape. 
5. Once your hat is glued together with the yarn on top, glue on the inner edge and attach to the top of your pinecone. 
6. Get a small amount of stuffing and stretch it out to make it look like a beard. 
7. Glue your nose and beard together and onto the pinecone, right up to the edge of the hat. 

There are tons of fun variations you can do to make your gnomes unique! Be creative and have fun!