I hope you have your Christmas decor all put away... or at least have started putting it away! Why?
Because I have a super fun little Valentine craft to share with you today and you are going to want to add it to your Valentine's Day decor! And if you don't typically decorate for this holiday, you are going to want to after you see this! 😁
This is a combo project which incorporates recycling and a Dollar Store recycle all in one adorable little package!
DIY Valentine Toilet Paper Tube Gnomes
Cute right?!
I am all about recycling and with toilet paper being such a hot commodity these days I feel like we should be cherishing those empty TP tubes a little bit! 😂
Below you will find a video (YES! I made a new video!!) and the full tutorial blog post!
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Here is the video I made... check it out... seriously... I spent hours on this... watch.the.video... 😫
And here is the picture version of how to make these cuties!
These are the basic supplies you'll need. Not pictured are batting, embroidery floss, cardboard, and glue.
I found my socks at the Dollar Store and they come in packs of three pairs. These are children's footie socks.
Cut a piece of batting to approximately 11" long and a couple of inches wider than the TP tube.
Line up one edge of the tube with one edge of the batting and roll it up tucking the overhang up inside the tube.
Place a sock over the batting covered tube. You want the part of the tube that has the batting tucked in to be at the bottom (or toe) of the sock.
Now fill up the tube with the pellets (or rice, beans, etc.)
Tie off the top with embroidery floss as close to the tube as you can.
Next, to make the feet trace around the tube onto a scrap of cardboard. Make the feet extend out a bit in the front.
Cut that out and then slide it into the leftover piece of the sock. Make the toes even with the cut edge of the sock. Use white craft glue and smear some on the cardboard and press the sock into the glue. Set aside with something heavy on top to dry.
While the feet are drying put the other sock onto the top like a hat and test fit where the beard will go. You want it touching the edge of the hat and over the sides about halfway.
Remove the hat and glue the beard in place with hot glue.
Now put the other sock back onto the top for the hat. The sock heel should be facing to the side and the band should be covering the top of the beard. Pull the hat way down in the back so it is on at an angle, high in the front and low in the back, and tack it down with hot glue.
Tie the top of the sock with the embroidery floss and cut off the tip.
Push in the heel with your fingers and fold the sock over that.
Tack in place with hot glue.
Check the feet to see if the glue is dry, then trim the sock around the cardboard foot template.
Glue the feet onto the bottom of the body with hot glue.
Now for the nose. Gnome noses are partially covered with the hat so fold up the front of the hat and add a dab of hot glue.
Then add the nose. See how the hat covers the top?
Cut a little heart from a leftover piece of sock and glue that to the hat and add a large pom-pom to cover the end of the hat where you tied it off. Make sure the pom-pom is large enough to cover the raw edge.
And you are done!! Isn't he cute?! 💕
Now you get to play with styling your gnome for Valentine's Day!
I think these are so cute if I do say so myself!! And you can make these for all the holidays, imagine a little St. Patrick's Day gnome, a 4th of July gnome, etc.!
I really hope you enjoyed this post, if so please share the love by pinning! Let me know what you think and if you liked the addition of the video!