A friend saw the picture I posted of a gnome I made a couple of years ago and wanted one, do I crocheted a hat, body covering, and boots for it in her favorite color – purple. A Dollar Tree mop head became his beard.
I hot glued the body covering over a large water glass with lid from Dollar Tree. I made wood forms for his feet and stuck them in the crocheted boots I made and glued them to the lid of the glass, using hot glue and super glue. Then added more hot glue all around the wood.
I cut the strands off the mop head and applied two layers of them all around the edge of the glass bottom. Then hot glued the hat on and added a wood nose. He stands about 12” high.
Gnomes are still popular. Anytime I make one, it sells quickly. So the other day, a friend sent me a link for making one around a wooden ring with the hat being created with yarn around a piece of toilet paper holder. So, of course I had to make one. My ring was a little bigger so I improvised and added purple yarn around it and glued the hat to the ring. I added a little pink heart. I also glued the whole thing to a Dollar Tree stand up frame to display him.
I have been a bit busy the last few days creating fall decor. Some days are just like that. You can’t stop. We’ve had some beautiful fall days in Missouri this week so I took advantage of the weather. It felt good to be outside working on my projects.
First up…. I was going through my fall decor boxes and ran across a box with a bunch of wood cut outs I hadn’t seen since I stored them. It was a jackpot of pumpkins, ghost, cats, and a few other goodies. One pumpkin had a very unique wood grain on the front and back. I just saw someone posted one very similar. It looked like an ostrich! I could see an ostrich in this one, too! Not only that, I saw an owl on the back!
I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but finally settled on using Howard’s Restore-a-Finish to bring out the grain and then I sealed it with Wise Owl salve. I named the Ostrich in a Pumpkin Woodette and the owl Woodsy. Soooo cute!
Then my friend, Midge, had an idea: flowers, a tiara, or crown for Woodette. I happened to have some small sunflowers and with just a dab of glue, they will come right off. I can change them out for each season! I think I might need to make Woodette a princess for Halloween and find a little crown for her.
In the same box as my Ostrich in a Pumpkin, I ran across this little shelf sitter or hanger. I passed over it at first, thinking….Wow! The 80s!
But then, I got this fall dish drying mat out of the Dollar Tree bag I just purchased. I realized some of the colors went so well with it and the other fall things I have in the corner of my kitchen. So..now, it is out of the box and in the corner of my kitchen counter. 🙂
Oh no! Another gnome …. after I said no gnomes this year! But the Gnome and Backyard lady had this idea I couldn’t resist. She made a quick and easy gnome out of the small plastic ghosts from Dollar Tree. I spray painted one for the hat with a copper color because that’s what I had on hand and added tiny Dollar Tree sunflowers for embellishment. The other I left white and glued it upside down to the hat. I gassed a wooden bead for his nose. I bought two big ghosts, too, to make a larger gnome.
I spray painted a Dollar Tree wire pumpkin form white with a green stem and attached my cute little gnome to it with jute twine and now have a cute fall door hanger for my front door. He hangs from a magnetic hook on my stork door by the stem
This awesome creator also had a tutorial for making a pumpkin out of a Dollar Tree soap saver. What? Check it out! https://fb.watch/fOIcejAF2x/
Of course I had to make one, too. This one I left gray and put it inside a Dollar Tree shadow box. It looks so cute with my gray pumpkins I made (the striped fabric came from DT), but I bought a few more to paint! 🙂
I still hadn’t gotten to my other pumpkin cut outs, so onto more decor!
I made this arrangement in three different sizes and used a Dollar Tree napkin decoupage technique. I was going to add embellishments but I love the rustic vintage look of them just as they are. They stand up on their own and are perfect for shelf sitters or tiered trays.
I also decoupaged a little 3 1/4” square natural wood trinket box. I made the little leaf ladder tall last year. It goes perfectly with this arrangement.
This next project is one of the larger pumpkin cut outs and will stand alone. I glued one of the Dollar Tree faux tin panels to it.
For this finish I did a kind of an aged terra-cotta color I’ve been seeing others do. I painted it with a color I mixed and added just a bit of baking soda to it. Then I sprinkled more baking soda on it while still tacky. After the paint dried I blended the baking soda on with a bit more paint then sealed with a matte sealer. I used a bit of the napkin I was using earlier on the stem.
So pretty! I really enjoy creating a more neutral look for fall decor.
And finally, I ended my marathon crafting this morning. Maybe. Lol I started this project last night and finished today. I still had more pumpkin cut outs in 3 different sizes so painted the face of each with the terra-cotta color I mixed. I used a bit of left over napkin for the stems.
I distressed them a bit with sandpaper and then used the new Dollar Tree brown parchment paper rub on transfers on them. I apologize in advance for finding more of these transfers in different designs. They are so hard to find, but I found these in the same store I found the others in Ballwin, MO on Manchester Road. But, oh how I love working with them and hope they make more. I’ve not seen them online yet, either.
That’s not all! I’m now working on a natural wood napkin decoupage riser and it should be finished soon! 🤷🏼♀️
Update: The last of this grouping is complete. 🙂
I had this 12” round wooden plate. I had the fall napkins. I had the decoupage medium. I had some little rub on transfers and the wood beads from the foot exerciser I bought a couple of weeks ago at a yard sale to use for feet. I have items to display.
Today, I decided to make a paper bag pumpkin and embellish it with a tassel gnome. Read on to see how I did it.
I used a Dollar Tree Orange pumpkin and cut a hole in the top and bottom. I also used approximately 8 paper bags from Dollar Tree. I quit counting and ended up using parts of the strips I made, but I’m sure it wasn’t over 8 bags.
I peeled the bottom of the bag away from the glue and opened the bag up completely. Sometimes it tore a little but that’s ok.
While the bag was open, I cut each bag into 6 strips. The edges I left together and the others I kept in groups of 2 so for each bag I had 12 strips to use.
I then put two strips together, crumpled them up, and then twisted them.
I was then ready to start gluing them to the pumpkin form. I started off by gluing a strip in one of the grooves and stuffing the ends into the holes and gluing them in. I did a few like that and then started filling in as needed.
I won’t lie. This is pretty time consuming, but hang in there. It is worth it in the end. There might be easier ways to do it, but this just worked well for me. I continued on until all the strips were glued on.
I then made a tassel gnome using Walmart cotton twine for the body and jute twine for the hat and a little wood bead for his nose. I used the tutorial below to make my gnome. I made him a little shorter than the tutorial by cutting off some of the strings on the bottom.
I used this gold decorator hook but it was a bit too shiny, so I painted it a light coat of brown and covered it with cinnamon. I let it dry then sealed it with Mod Podge satin spray sealer.
I added a screw to the hook, put some super glue around the screw and the edge of the hook bottom and pushed it into the pumpkin.
I tied some raffia together and tied my gnome to it, then with another piece of jute, tied all to the hook. I then added a couple of little wood leaves I already had.
I had a small parquet wooden bowl so I turned it upside to display my finished pumpkin. I did not attach the pumpkin to the bottom of the bowl. It can then be used for other things.
This display shows that tiered trays don’t have to be elaborate and how you can use items around your house to create themed tiered trays. The display will be available at our booth at The Gray Wall in Sullivan, Missouri, just in time for the 4th of July. I also will have quite a bit of cobalt blue depression glass from my own collection that will be available. It is so beautiful, but I just don’t have room for it anymore. And how perfect for your July 4th celebrations!
Once I gave this little garden gnome a patriotic outfit with paint pens, I had to go on a hunt around my house to find things to display with him.
The tiered tray was a bronze color until I gave it a hammered black spray paint makeover.
I love this tray as you can change out plates on it. Right now it holds two plates from my colbalt depression glass collection.
The USA and July 4th are just stickers that will come off and you can reuse the little cup and teapot for other holidays. Dollar Tree carries a variety of letter/number stickers.
The colbalt blue vase from my collection on the left is perfect for this theme. It has an eagle design on one side and George Washington on the other. And the goblet with the stars and the colbalt blue insert and red flower inside is perfect!
I’m still working on a red/white/blue bead garland, but it will be ready when this display and my colbalt blue collection goes to the booth this week!
I am a teeny bit obsessed with gnomes. It started last Christmas. I made quite a few of them. They sold really well.
So, of course, I couldn’t help myself. I have gnome fever again this year. I decided to change up the look a little.
Here are a few more gnomes I’ve made …. so far.
Refrigerator magnet Bean bag type gnome Paint brush gnome – just had to do this! Lol
My latest project is the reason for this post. I purchased the image of the 3 gnomes from the Silhouette Design Store with a commercial license. I knew I would be using them quite a bit, they are so darn cute.
So last night, I cut a larger stencil from contact paper with my Silhouette machine. I used it, a chalk paste mesh stencil of snowflakes, and my own DIY chalk paste to create this cute design on a clipboard from Dollar Tree I had painted with chalkboard paint.
I could have wiped it off with a damp cloth and used the clipboard again, but it turned out so cute, I sealed it with an acrylic clear coat and made it permanent.
It can now be used as decor or as a clipboard …. or both!
SharSum Paint 