DIY Pinecone Gnomes

In today’s post: Learn how to make adorable pinecones gnomes to use as Christmas ornaments or decorations. This is an easy Christmas craft that only takes a few supplies.

Gnomes have become one of the most popular Christmas decorations! Today’s DIY pinecone gnomes are a fun way to bring a natural element into your Christmas decorating. They look great on a mantle, in a centerpiece, or even hung on your Christmas tree. Their hats are made from felt, which you can find in just about any color, so you can use this tutorial to make gnomes that perfectly match the rest of your Christmas decor.

Note: want to make another adorable gnome? Learn how to make sock gnomes here

Supplies

Here’s what you’ll need to put together this simple Christmas craft:

• Pinecones: You can purchase pinecones from the craft store (the ones that smell like cinnamon would be fun to use!) OR collect your own from under trees. If you collect pinecones, you may want to bake them to get rid of any bugs. Visit this post to learn more: how to bake pinecones
• Felt: Inexpensive sheets of 9×12 craft felt work great; depending on the size of your pinecones you can probably get two hats out of each felt sheet. You could also use more expensive wool felt if you wish, but I don’t think it’s necessary.
• White craft paint + foam paintbrush
• White pom poms
• 1 inch wooden balls or wood beads

You’ll also need a hot glue gun. If you want to turn your pinecone gnomes into ornaments, you’ll also need twine or an ornament hanger.

How to make Pinecone Gnomes

These little gnomes are one of my new favorite Christmas crafts. I have simple, step by step instructions for you, as well as a printable instruction card at the end of the post.

Paint the Beard

For your gnomes, the top of the pine cone (the flat side) will be the bottom of the gnome, which allows them to stand up on a table. The bottom of the pine cone (the pointed side) will point up, into the hat. Choose which side of your pinecone will be the front. Use a foam paintbrush to dab white paint onto the edges of the front of the pinecone in a V-shape to represent a beard.

Cut the Hat

To make the hat, you need to cut a triangle from one corner of your felt. The triangle will have two straight sides and one curved side. To do this, fold the felt in half from one corner, then fold it again from that same corner so it’s in quarters. Measure down from the corner and then cut across the felt in a curve. ***To figure out how far to measure, use a measuring tape to measure around the pinecone where the hat will sit. My pinecones were approximately 9 inches around in diameter. Divide that number by 1.6 to figure out how far down the folded felt to cut across (that was about 5.5 for me; it’s not important to be exact).***

Glue the Hat Together

Now you’ll have a triangle shape with two straight sides and one curved side. Snip across the corner where the straight sides meet. Fold in one straight side and place a line of hot glue along it. Fold in the other straight side to overlap the hot glue. This will create a cone shaped hat. Check the size of the hat by placing it on the pinecone. If it comes down too far or seems too big, trim it a little along the bottom. (If you’d like, you can also check the size of the hat before gluing it together.)

Add the Pom Pom

Use hot glue to glue the pom pom to the tip of the hat.

Assemble the Gnome

Run a line of hot glue along the bottom edge of the hat in the back, and place the hat on the pinecone, pressing along where the glue is to secure it. Then figure out where you’d like the wood ball to go for the nose. The wooden balls I used had an opening in the back; sometimes it worked best for that opening to go over one of the spikes and sometimes it worked best for the ball to go in between spikes. You can usually adjust the spikes a little to make a place for the wood ball to fit. Just figure out what works best for your pinecone, and then use hot glue to attach the wooden ball. The nose should overlap the hat. This looks cute and helps secure the hat to the pinecone in the front.

That completes your pinecone gnome! If you’d like to turn them into pinecone gnome ornaments, you can glue (or sew) a loop of twine to the back of the hat, just behind the pom pom.