Call me Judy, because I may have gone a bit garland crazy as of late. I absolutely love how a garland can transform a space and create some whimsy anywhere it lays! I wanted to create a holiday themed option, but the ideas I found just weren’t my favorite.. until I stumbled on this gem of an idea! I decided to give it a try, because it seemed so simple, and it was! I love how you can keep this up, honestly all year long if you want! There isn’t a specific holiday feel to it, so it’s very subtle in the festive department, Best of all, it was super cheap to create!
Materials Needed:
- White yarn
- Medium sized book
- Scissors
- Yarn color of choice for beanies
- Hot glue gun/glue sticks
- Cotton Balls
- Large sewing needle
- Toilet paper roll
- Small wooden beads
- Optional: pom pom maker
How to Create:
To start, we are going to create the beanie for your gnome. Take your beanie yarn color of choice and wrap the yarn around the book about thirty times. Take your scissors and cut the yarn off of the book. Take your toilet paper roll and cut off a small section, about an inch thick. Take your yarn pieces and begin to attach the yarn to the paper ring. To attach, take your yarn piece and fold in half. Place behind the roll and create a hoop with the top part of the yarn, and loop the ends through to attach. See the photos below for more of a refernece. Once attached, repeat this process until all of the yarn has covered the paper circle. If you need to cut more yarn to cover, feel free to do so. After the ring is covered, take the yarn ends and tuck into the paper ring, so that the yarn is facing up. Take another piece of yarn and tie the yarn pieces together about 3/4 of the way up. Take two cotton balls and shove it up into the beanie to add some shape. Cut the top of the yarn down , so that you have a fluffy little beanie topper. Repeat this process until you have made your desired amount of beanies for your gnomes.
To make the gnome beard pom, I used a Clover brand pom pom maker and created perfect poms in minutes! Don’t have a pom maker? That’s totally okay! I’ve attached a link to a video below that shows how to make a perfect pom without any extra materials. After you have created your desired amount of poms for your gnome, it’s time to assemble the garland. Take your beanies and hot glue the base of the beanie to the pom. Then, take your wooden bead and hot glue it to where the base of the hat and the beginning of the pom meet. Once you have assembled all of the gnomes, it’s time to string them together. Due to the thickness of the cotton ball, and the thickness of the yarn, you will need a needle with a larger hoop. Take your yarn and string the gnomes together through the beanie. To add a little extra whimsy, I put wooden beads between to break them up a bit, but you don’t have to. Once they are all strung together, you’re ready to hang and enjoy your hard work! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and for a more detailed look on how I created this D.I.Y, be sure to follow me on Instagram at @OCfitmommy where i break down this project with video in my story highlights! Happy Holidays!
D.I.Y Pom Pom Tutorial (without pom maker)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daJyhdIEJ1s
Balancing Blocks 