I love the gnome themed Christmas decor, and now I’m seeing gnomes make an appearance in Valentine’s Day decorations too. So, if you’re looking for an idea for a Valentine craft for kids, try this gnome Valentine box.
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial of how I made it.
Contents
The Supplies
Here’s what you will need to make this adorable Gnome Valentine Box:
- A shoe box or a purchased Valentine Box. I bought this one from Hobby Lobby for convenience sake, but you can modify these instructions to fit any other box you have on hand
- Faux Fur for the beard. I got mine at Hobby Lobby.
- 2 pieces of felt for the hat, any color
- 1 piece of felt for the hat brim, any color
- 1 piece of glitter foam for the heart
- 1 piece of flesh colored felt for the hands
- 1 pom-pom, flesh colored (for the nose)
- 1 piece of black glitter foam for the shoes
- 1 Package of glitter heart cutouts or other embellishments
- Poly-fil or tissue paper to stuff the hat
- Paper, pencil, and scissors
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
The Steps to Making Your Gnome Valentine Box
The Box Top: The Gnome’s Face and Card Slot
If your box does not already have a slot cut out of the top, trace a rectangle shape about 1 inch by 4 inches into the top of the box. Keep the rectangle that you cut out as a template for later. If your box already has a slot, trace the slot shape onto a piece of paper and cut it out to use as a template.
- Take off the top of the box with the slot. This is where you will glue your gnome’s beard and nose.
2. Place the faux fur in position on the box top, covering the slot.
3. Line up the fur with the top edge of the box top. Don’t glue it down just yet.
4. Use your scissors to trim the bottom of the beard into the shape you want.
5. Now we need to cut a hole in the beard to line up with the slot on top: Turn the beard over so that the fur is facing down. Line up the fur with the top edge again. Lift up the beard to see where the slot begins and ends.
6. Position your paper template for the slot on top of the beard so that it lines up with the slot.
7. Use your pencil to trace the slot template on the back side of the beard so you’ll know exactly where the hole is
8. Using your scissors, cut along the lines to make a slot in the beard. I did this by folding the beard and cutting a small slit in the center of the rectangle. Then I cut out the slot
9. Once the rectangle slot has been removed, flip the beard back over and use the glue gun to secure the beard to the top edge of the box. Make sure the hole for the beard matches up with the hole in the box top. Secure the beard along the edges with glue.
The Hands and the Heart
1. I used this Gnome Hands and Heart template to cut a heart out of felt. I used glitter felt.
2. Cut a slot-shaped hole in the heart using the same template that you used for the beard.
3. Glue the heart over the slot, making sure the openings line up.
4. Use the hands template to trace and cut the gnomes hands out of flesh colored felt.
5. Glue the hands onto either side of the heart.
6. Glue the flesh colored pom-pom to the top, center of the box. This will be the gnome’s nose. The box top should look like this:
The Hat
- I recommend making a template for the hat out of paper first to make sure you get the shape and size you want. This is the Gnome Hat Template that I made if you want to use it as a guide.
2. Leave a 1 inch line at the bottom of the hat. This 1 inch tab is where you will fold and glue the hat to the box. My template looked like this:
3. Using this template, trace and cut out 2 of the shapes: one for each side of the hat
4. Before gluing the hat, place the top back on the box. On the side of the box where you are gluing the hat, trace a line to show how far the boxtop overlaps. If you want to be able to open and close your box, DON’T glue anything on the part where the top overlaps.
5. With the box standing on its side (hat side up) position one side of the hat standing up as you want it to look for the finished product. Fold the tab under (away from where the box top will be) and glue the tab down.
6. Take the back side of the hat and do the same thing, making sure that the two sides line up. The tabs on both hat pieces should be glued facing one another.
7. Grab the top of each hat piece and bring them together in the middle. Starting at the bottom edge of the hat, glue both pieces together along the edges, forming a pocket for the hat. Leave the top 2-3 inches unglued for now. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect. The hat brim will cover it later.
8. Do the same thing on the other side of the hat: Start at the bottom and glue the edges together. Leave the top 2-3 inches unglued.
9. Using Poly-fil or tissue paper, gently stuff the hat to help it stand up. You don’t need to stuff it completely full, just enough to get it to stay in shape. Glue the top of the hat closed.
10. Stand the box upright so that the end with the hat is on top. Place the lid on the box.
The Hat Brim
- There’s a slight gap between the gnome’s hat and his nose. I drew this Gnome Hat Brim out on paper to fit the width of the hat. I made a paper template first to get the size and shape right, then I traced and cut out two pieces to form the brim of the hat.
2. Hold one of the felt pieces to the brim of the hat and position it how you want it to go. You want it to overlap the box top enough to cover the gap, but DON’T glue the brim to the top of the box, or you won’t be able to open the box to get Valentine’s out.
3. Add any accents or decorations you want to make it your own. I used the cutout glitter hearts to decorate the hat, but you can add anything you want. I also added feet with two pieces of glitter craft foam glued to the bottom of the box.
Valentine Craft For Kids: Gnome Valentine Box
Here’s the finished product. This was a fun Valentine craft for kids that could also be used for a Valentine’s Day party.
You can use your creativity to decorate your box and make it your own.
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