DIY Gnome Cookie Jars

Oh, I love the season of gift-giving! My mind keeps dreaming up ideas especially if they can make a difference by up-cycling. I bet you’ve already got the stuff to make these DIY Gnome Cookie Jars and add to your holiday decor too.

This Christmas Gnome tutorial has simple steps and makes the sweetest food gift when filled with homemade cookies.

The Supplies:

• Hat: some sweater, socks, fleece, colorful felt, pretty well any fabric, knits look great!
• Hat trim: fur from any old garment, furry fabric
• Beard/moustache: White longish fur. (tip, many items of clothing in thrift shops have fur for ¢’s)
• Jars: Wide or regular mouth Mason Jars with metal caps
• Wire to give hat character
• Nose: pantyhose and bit of fibre-fill
• Hot Glue
• String or yarn
• Wire: to shape hat
• Cookies

Decide what kinds or sizes of jars you will use. My favourite is the wide mouth mason jar. All the hat and beard is attached to the top of the lidded jar so the thicker metal rims of mason jars work well for that. It also allows the jar to be opened by turning the cap.

Measure The Hat Pattern:

Measure around the circumference of the lid and add some seam allowance with a bit extra width for attaching the items under the hat. Create a triangular shape and a fairly long height. These gnome are more rustic with ‘squiggly’ hats that have bends to give them much more character.

You can make them extra sweet with some hearts sewn (or glued) on. I added some fur to the edge of the hat. I push the fur away from the seam to make it as fluffy as possible. Sew the seam up the back of the hat, it can also be hand-sewn or use tacky glue.

To make the pom-pom, cut a circle of fur and stitch around the edge, pull tight and it creates a ‘ball’. Stitch or glue to hat top.

I love the rustic look of the knitted sweater on the adorable gnome jar. Up-cycling is ever better for this easy Christmas craft idea.

The Noses:

Sure you can do the simple thing of buying wood beads/balls for the nose…

‘But I wanted to use what I had. a circle of panty-hose with a bit of stuffing (cotton batting or fibre-fill) and tie into a ball, not to mention how real they look.

To give it some form; stitch through from one side to another.

Make a couple loops through the nose.

Pull these loops tight and they will indent the nostrils. There you have a better Gnome nose! My Rustic Gnomes use polymer clay and everyone loves those!

The Beard:

Pick the longest fuzzy fur (or even fashion some wool/yarn) to make the beard about as long as the jar. I folded over the edge by tacking with hot glue on the back of faux fur.

Use a bead of hot glue to secure the jar rim to the inside cap. Here’s an important tip; to make sure the beard and hat stay attached to the jar lid wrap it with string or yarn as then the hot glue will be more permanent as it tends to not glue well on shiny metal. Now the beard will attach to the anchored string.

The hats in this design have some character by being able to bend as you like. Glue the wire into the curve of the lid.

Put on the Hat:

The hat is lightly stuffed with some fibre-fill (or whatever stuffing you have) and glued around the jar rim (where string is) with hot glue. Do not get it onto the glass or you won’t be able to open it.

To attach the nose I spread the fur apart and used a tab of hot glue to attach the nose just under the fur trim. Everything is now attached to the cap. It can be screwed on and off as needed…

Filling the Jar:

There are endless possibilities to fill these! A sweet gift of Christmas cookies is perfect, or colorful Christmas candies, truffles, or whatever favorite holiday recipe fits. Filling them each year can be a Christmas tradition.

These jolly little gnomes don’t look like the cheap dollar tree types of crafts, much more hand-made look. They would be great as tables-cape, mantel decor for the holiday season & Christmas decor. I hope you make your own set of gnome food gift jars; only a handful of inexpensive supplies or up-cycling to share the cheer!