DIY Miniature Sock Gnome Place Card Holders

Sock gnomes have been trending for the longest time and with Christmas fast approaching (where did the year go??), I thought I’d make a few miniature sock gnomes to use as place card holders. These no-sew little guys are super easy to put together and the kids will love making them with you.

They can be customized to suit your table decor or holiday theme. My mini sock gnomes are all sitting on a slice of moss-covered wood and they come bearing a small gift of love.

Each place card holder has a signpost with the names of all the special people in my life who won’t be able to join us this year for Christmas lunch. My crazy Mom,

My son,

And my daughter.

These adorable place card holders are also my submission for this month’s IBC Felted Fixations challenge.

What’s The IBC All About

The IBC, or International Blogger’s Club, is a group of bloggers from all over the world who challenge each other to make something using a common theme.  Our last challenge was “Beads Galore”, and we shared a tutorial to make a gorgeous half-moon dream catcher with bead detail. You’ll find all my friend’s “Felted Fixation” projects at the bottom of this tutorial and they’re stunning. So don’t miss out.

Okay, before we get to the miniature sock gnome place card holder tutorial, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. And don’t forget to subscribe so you’ll never miss a post!

What you need

For the miniature sock gnome

• Small bead
• Fur fabric
• Felt
• Batting or Cotton wool
• Cardstock
• Small elastic bands or string
• Clear drying glue
• Scissors and craft knife
• A pair of knitted gloves. If you don’t have any gloves you can cut a circle from any fabric. The circle needs to be about 10 cm (4″) in diameter.

For the place card holder

• Wood slices
• Ice cream/popsicle sticks
• Wooden skewer
• Pen and Drill (optional)

Optional Extras

• Wrapping paper
• Wood scraps
• Moss
• Miniature mushrooms

How to make miniature sock gnome place card holders

Making miniature gnomes – The body

There are so many tutorials on the web to make gnomes, and most of them use a sock for the body. For these little guys, the only sock small enough would be something a doll would wear. And for some strange reason, doll socks are not that easy to find 😉 But cheap knitted gloves are and you can make 10 gnomes from a pair of gloves. 😀 I used an old pair that my daughter had outgrown.

And once those fingers were off, I had myself a pair of fingerless gloves that will last a few more years.

Cut a small circle from a piece of cardboard and stuff it inside the fingers.

It helps give the miniature gnomes a flat bottom.

Take a small amount of batting or cotton wool and stuff it inside the finger.

Tie the top closed with a small elastic band or some twine.

Time to give these little knitted blobs a hat and a beard so they can look more gnomish 😀

Making miniature gnomes – The beard, hat, and nose

Once the sock glove finger bodies are done, we can add the beard, hat, and nose. For the beard cut a small piece of furry fabric.

Pro Tip: Always use a craft knife to cut fur and make the cut at the back of the furry fabric, not the front. That way all that gorgeous furriness stays intact and doesn’t end up looking all choppy.

Glue the fur beard onto the little body about 2/3 of the way from the top.

For the hat take the corner of a piece of felt and tug the corners so it stretches a little. This step isn’t necessary, but I wanted my hats to be tall and pointy.

Using the gnome body as a guide place the felt around the body and trim it into a triangle shape as shown below.

Place the hat on top of the gnome body and glue the back edges together.

To finish the little guy off, glue a bead nose on. I find with small projects like this, it’s easiest to use super glue with a nozzle applicator tip so you don’t get glue all over the place. Normal craft glue will work too.

Tuck the nose under the felt hat so it peeks out a little and before gluing the hat in place. RightyO, that’s the miniature sock gnomes done.

Now we just need to use them to make some place card holders.

Making the place card holders

When I originally pictured these little place card holders with miniature sock gnomes, I wanted them to tell a story. Not on the same wordy scale as the lead story placemats, we made a few years back, but they still needed to convey a message. So I decided to stage the gnomes of a slice of wood and add a fantasy signpost with my guests’ names.

There was just one problem; the slice of wood seemed a little pale and didn’t have enough contrast to showcase that gorgeous, gnomish white beard. But that’s easy enough to fix with a little homemade wood stain.

To secure the signpost on the slice of wood, drill a hole, add a small drop of glue, and pop the signpost inside. If you don’t have a drill, you can stick the signpost inside a dollop of air-dry clay and glue that onto the wood slice once it dries.

Break a few ice cream sticks and write the name of your guests on one of the pieces and add whatever you like to the other pieces. I wrote Narnia and North Pole on mine.

Glue the signs to the signpost.

The next steps are optional. Here in South Africa, our Christmas day is normally hot, like really hot. So to fit with our blue skies and green grass mid-summer look, I dollied the slice of wood up with moss, teeny, tiny mushrooms and a scrap piece of wood wrapped up neatly in red wrapping paper 😀

If you prefer a white Christmas, fake snow will look just as good.

The miniature gnomes are quick and easy to make, so it shouldn’t matter how many guests you’re expecting. And if you’re not entertaining these little guys can be used as Christmas ornaments too. Just thread them onto a piece of string and hang them up.

And when your guests go home, they can take their little gnome with them as a gift.

If you like the miniature sock gnome place card holders, don’t forget to pin them for later.

Sharing is caring

Want to see what my IBC friends have done with their “Felted Fixations” challenge?

1. The cutest steampunk themed nutcracker from Unique Creations by Anita.
2. A felted Mondrian heart applique beautifully done by Birdz of a Feather.  
3. Easy peasy no-sew elf shoe gift card holders made by Interior Frugalista.
4. Miniature gnomes place card holders by yours truly.

Oh and if you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered. Disclosure: Clicking on the links below, means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us come up with more amazing craft ideas to share with you 😉

And as always, wishing you a wonderful, crafty week filled with lots of love. Thank you for popping in for a visit.