I am so excited to share this wall decor with you!
This Christmas with my Gnomies is the absolute favorite craft I have ever made!
Long before Gnomes became such a hot decor item, my son had a t-shirt with 3 gnomes across the front with, “Hanging with my Gnomies” written under them. I swear, everytime he wore that shirt, someone complimented him on it. Since Gnomes have become such a hot item, especially for Christmas decorations, I thought of that shirt and knew I had to make something that said “Christmas with my Gnomies”.
Is that not the cutest thing? I just adore it, and it was relatively easy to make.
I found this round wall hanging in the Dollar Tree plus spot for $3. Even though it’s cute on its own, I knew I could use it to make my own cute wall hanging. I know you’ve all seen all those Dollar Tree crafts and wall hangings using the pizza pans. I’ve made a few of those myself, but finding a round form that has a frame around it was really priceless to me.
To make this, I used the round frame, some spray paint, and a white piece of poster board that I cut down for the back. Then for the inside, I used my Cricut to make the quote, two pieces of garland from Dollar Tree and I cut down this gnome gift bag I found at Wal-mart. Other than that, you need some hot glue and mod podge. Easy, peasy, right?
First, you can easily remove the back from the frame by just pushing on it. Then remove the raised houses on the interior round. I tried to save them so I could possibly use them later, but they broke off. If you’re very gentle and careful, you can probably remove them without breaking them. I also removed the twine handle because I wanted to use ribbon on mine.
Then use whatever color cardstock or piece of posterboard or whatever you plan on using for the background, and cut it out. I was just using a plain white posterboard I got at the Dollar Tree. I just took the interior of the frame and traced it on the posterboard and then cut it out.
Then cut the gnome giftbag down into a small circle. I really just wanted the focal point to be the gnomes, so I cut most of the truck out.
Next I took the two garland ties and formed them into a wreath around the gnome cut-out. I cut about half off the second garland tie to make my wreath. I just wrapped the edges of them around each other and made sure they would fit around my gnomes. Then, I used hot glue to glue those down on to the outer edge of the gnome circle. At this time, I painted the frame so everything needed to just sit and dry.
While all that was drying, I got on Cricut design space, found a font I liked and printed out the Christmas with my Gnomies vinyl and weeded it.
Totally off topic, but
Does anyone know an easy way to measure the lettering when you’re curving it for a circle? I tried the whole find the diameter and do it that way, but Cricut design space diameter and the actual diameter measurement of a circle does not mesh well together. So that was fun. And thankfully I had quite a bit of scrap Cricut vinyl to get the curve and size of the letters and words exactly right.
And now you get to start putting this cute little wall hanging together.
Using mod podge, glue the Gnome wreath to the back of your cardstock or paper backing. Let that dry. I set the frame down so I could see to center the wreath on the inside.
Now, you could always transfer the vinyl before gluing the Gnome wreath. I did the wreath first because I was trying to make sure everything was centered.
After figuring out the placement for your quote or other vinyl lettering, use tranfer tape to tranfer the vinyl to your backing. Now, depending on what backing you are using, be very careful. I ripped the first round of posterboard I was using and had to print out Christmas again AND cut a new posterboard circle.
Helpful tip
Before trying to transfer the vinyl the second time, I put my transfer tape on the jeans I was wearing and then for good measure, on the hoodie I had on too. Yes, as in you peel the backing off and actually run the sticky transfer tape across your clothing first. According to what I read, the transfer tape will pick up the fibers on your clothes and then won’t tear the paper you are adhering your vinyl to. It worked! Crazy, right?
And for the final step, glue the backing back onto the frame, tie some ribbon for the handle and you’re done!
I think the final project is so cute. And I’ll say it again. The lighting in my house is horrible. The frame and ribbon are really the same color as the deeper red of the Gnomes hands and the top present on the giftbag. More like a wine red. Why it looks almost black here, I do not know.
Oh and I almost forgot!
The final, final step. The Gnome giftbag had some fake, glittery like snow on it. And it just so happened that I had some of that fake snow from the Dollar Tree. So I took a small paintbrush and got some mod podge and just dabbed it here and there all over, then sprinkled the fake snow. After letting it sit for a few minutes, I turned it over to let the excess snow fall off.
In fact, I adore this sign so much, I hung it right above my desk so I can look at it all the time. Or at least until Christmas is put away until next Christmas. Isn’t it so cute? That is my view of it above my desk.
So what do you think about this Christmas with my Gnomies Christmas wall decor? Comments and suggestions are always welcome!
Looking for more easy Christmas Crafts?
Beautiful (and Easy!) Christmas scene using giftbags and frames
How to turn paint/ruler sticks into Reindeer names Wall décor
Easy Dollar Tree light up Christmas Box
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