Gnome Sweet Gnome

Well....the countdown has begun. D#2 told me today that we have 17 more days until Christmas. Wow, guess I had better get busy. So much to do and I am loving every minute of it! Today I have a clothespin doll for you. I love these little dolls. I have had a picture of a similar vintage doll on my computer for a few years now before I discovered Pinterest and I am not sure where I saved the picture from. Originally she looked like she was made out of pipe cleaners and a wooden bead for a head. She is such an adorable little gnome. I turned her into a Christmas gnome but you could easily make her into a Spring, Summer or Fall gnome.

 

Feeding time for the little fawns.

Sweet little fawn tutorial at Creative Breathing (click here). The fawn on the left reminds me of my sweet little dog at feeding time- eager beaver :)

Displayed on a mushroom pedestal!

 

 This was my first time using yarn as hair on my peg dolls. I usually paint the hair. If you happen to zoom in, don't be surprised at the messy hair cut. I cut hair kind of like I make floral arrangements. True story: I use to cut every one's hair in my family -Dear Hubby, Daughter#1, Son, my bangs (back when I had bangs) and even Dog, this was maaannnnyyy years ago. This little side job that I maintained saved us lots of money. I was quite proud of myself. I had years and years of experience- I did after all have the childhood job of pet groomer which all of the pets were proud to sport their new "do" (I don't count the little dog that hid everytime I gave him an adorable cut-he was just shy).  One day while I was cutting DH's hair, I made a mistake......of course I didn't say anything, it was a little tiny mistake about the size of a quarter. It was on the back of his head, who would notice? Everyone at work and I mean everyone asked him who had cut his hair?!?! Really?.....it wasn't that bad. I promise. Well....I lost my job that day and after that everyone went to the barber, Salon and groomer. It's funny, I can make just about anything (or at least pretend that I can) and there really isn't a craft that I won't try, but for the life of me I can't wrap a present, cut hair, make a floral arrangement, draw a decent circle, grow hollyhocks, or even draw a straight line. These little quirks drive me crazy! So I apologize for the messy hair on the otherwise cute gnome :)

Little Rudolph deer waiting patiently to be fed.

 

Sack of reindeer food.

 

 

Supplies for clothespin doll

wooden ball knob-face already painted and mod podged

old style clothespin-legs painted black and body painted flesh and mod podged

peg stand-painted black and mod podged

yarn for hair

two small silver beads

ric rac

wool blend felt

paperclay-made into balls for hands, dried over night and painted and mod podged

one green pipecleaner

 

Supplies for mushroom

wooden plaque-painted red with white polka dots and mod podged

wooden candle stick painted white and mod podged

artificial picks

 

Supplies for Reindeer food sack

I used osnaburg to give it a burlap sack look but you could use any scrap of fabric that you have. A piece of muslin would work well.

stamp letters

stamp ink

 

This project uses glue for everything. No sewing required (I did cheat and sew the shirt sides together- I am very messy with glue so I opted to pick up needle and thread for this part of the project, but you could definitely glue it using straight pins to hold it together until glue dries).

 

1. Cut out felt pieces. Drill a small hole for the arms in the peg- 3rd picture below shows arm placement.

 

 2. Glue pants legs in place and stuff excess between legs. I used a sharp pair of scissors to stuff. You may need to trim a little off the sides of the "pants" in order to stuff them between the peg legs.

 

 Your pants will end up like this.

 

3. To make the arms glue one sleeve on. Insert the other side of the pipe cleaner through the hole in the peg. Now glue the other sleeve on. Cut pipe cleaner flush with sleeve.

4. Glue back shirt piece on (see photo above).

5. Glue front shirt piece on, glue (or stitch) sides together. Glue ric rac and buttons on. Let dry. Glue holly leaves and berries on.

6. Make gnome hat. Let dry.

7. Glue hair onto head. Let dry.

8. Glue head onto body. Let dry. Glue hat on and then hands. Let dry.

 

Reindeer food sack

1. Cut out two sack pieces.

2. Sew the sides & bottom together with sewing machine. You could probably glue them together.

3. Stamp "reindeer food" on sack.

4. Stuff lightly and I placed a small oval of light brown on top of the stuffing to have a finished look.

5. Tie two corners with embroidery floss.

 

Finishing

Glue mushroom top to mushroom bottom. Let dry. Now just glue everything on. If you made Elizabeth's little fawns add them. You could really add any little animal that you have on hand. I know some of you find the most wonderful vintage plastic animals that would be just perfect on this. I did add some plastic picks from Walmart that I took apart and hot glued to the back. This was the only time that I used hot glue. I like using white glue for everything else.

*Don't forget to sign and date the bottom of the mushroom. This will come in handy 5 years later.

You are now finished. Wouldn't a little gnome dressed in white with a red fawn be the cutest. Hmmm...I am making more crafty work for myself :)

 

Have a wonderful crafty weekend and let me know if you make a Holly Gnome, I would just love to see her,

Holly