Aren’t these little gnomes made out of branches adorable!? As I was decorating a miniature Christmas tree to set out in the play garden, I realized that I had no gnomes to give the tree to. It’s not that I’m against gnomes. I made Woody, the moss-covered wild man, for a charity event that I was involved in. As he was part of a silent auction, he now lives at his new home with the highest bidder. These gnomes, however, have found their forever home. 
I’m not sure exactly where the idea came from but I’m certain that I saw something like these on Pinterest and it stuck in my mind. You can see a few versions of these gnomes here and here.
The secret of my twig gnomes, however, lies in how I created their pointy hats. Using a secret weapon I was able to shave off some time and some twig all at once.
You see, the one thing that I didn’t want to do was spend a whole lot of time whittling away wood to make them, because I wanted to make A LOT of them. A brigade of gnomes, if you will. Plus, it has been a bit rainy out lately and the day that I made these it was downright blustery, with cold rain pelting sideways at my head. I came up with an idea to quickly get these little twig gnomes outside to enjoy their mushroom Christmas tree, soon to be joined by 20-30 more friends.
My secret tool? A pencil sharpener!
Materials
- Dry branches (about the thickness of a pencil)
- Pruners
- Pencil sharpener
- Vegetable peeler
- Craft paints
- Paint brushes
- Permanent marker
- Acrylic sealer
Make it!
Snip a few dry twigs / branches that are about the thickness of a pencil. Use a pencil sharpener (or even an eye pencil sharpener if that’s all you have) to create a pointy end. Then use a vegetable peeler to take off some of the bark on one side of the twig. This will be Gnomie’s face.
Use a little white paint to create a beard on the gnome and paint his hat red. Use a black permanent marker to draw in his eyes. When the paint is dry, spray the painted parts with a little acrylic sealer so it will last in the weather outdoors.
Set your gnomes out in the garden with their festive Christmas tree, which you can see how to make here:
Oh how cute are those! Thanks for sharing!
Rachel
I am in the process of turning an old irrigation pipe weight into a little dwelling (just sticking bark and random things round the outside. Was wondering who would dwell in it and was wrecking my brain. Then this……brilliant, would not have thought about it on my own! Thank you, all the way out of South Africa :D
Oh my gosh! Please send pictures when you are finished!!
Those are just adorable :)
thanks, Susan!
How fun..so cute!
Thanks! They are fun to have around the garden.