DIY St. Patrick’s Day Gnome Planter
Learn how to make a cute St. Patrick’s Day gnome planter using a mason jar, paper and faux fur! Free PDF pattern and SVG cut file to help you get started!
Hello Crafty Friends! St. Patrick’s Day is coming up and to celebrate I’m sharing a tutorial on how to make the cutest little St. Patrick’s Day gnome planters. These gnomes are so fun! Made with a mason jar, cardstock and a little bit of faux fur, these leprechaun gnomes double as a vase or planter.
Use one of the gnomes to decorate for the holiday or gift to someone special! They would also make a festive gift for the office. Use the gnome planters to hold a seasonal shamrock plant, flowers or use it as a pencil holder.
For my St. Patrick’s gnomes I decided to make one a vase with bright green flowers and the other a planter with a cute shamrock plant. The hat is made from cardstock and you can use my free PDF or SVG cut file to help you make it.
Below is the tutorial for making your own leprechaun gnomes for St. Patrick’s Day! Looking for more St. Patrick’s Day projects? Check out my St. Patrick’s Day craft page for more fun DIY craft tutorials for the holiday!
How to Make St. Patrick’s Day Gnome Planters
Supplies Needed:
- Free PDF pattern and SVG cut file – Grab the free file by filling out the purple form at the end of this post.
- Mason jar – I used 16oz glass canning jars. The diameter of the opening at the top was 2.5″. You can also use plastic mason jars if crafting with kids as long as the flowers aren’t too heavy :)
- Green paint and paint brush – I used acrylic paint but a chalk paint may work better.
- 1″ Wooden beads
- Faux fur – I recommend using a small faux fur sheet if you can find it – it was cheaper than the faux fur yardage for me!
- Cardstock – green, black and gold glitter for the buckle
- 1/4″ Scor-Tape and 1/2″ Scor-Tape, or another strong double-sided tape or glue.
- Gluestick
- Hot Glue
- Plants or flowers!
- If using the SVG – Cricut Cutting Machine, Standard cutting mat and Cricut Tools
Paint the Mason Jars
Start by painting a mason jar green. You can use acrylic paint, chalk paint or spray paint. I used what I had on hand which was multi-surface acrylic paint. It took me about 4 coats of acrylic paint to get the opaque color I was going for since my paint was not the best paint to use on glass. If you use acrylic paint, using a coat of primer will help a lot. Chalk paint, which doesn’t require a primer at all, would also be a great option!
Making the Gnome Hat
Use the free printable PDF pattern or SVG cut file to cut out the four pieces needed to make the hat. I used a gold glitter paper for the buckle. You can get the free files by filling out the form at the end of this post. I used my Cricut Explore to cut out the pieces.
Adhere the strip of black paper towards to the green paper, then add the gold buckle. I used Scor-Tape, a strong double-sided adhesive, and a glue stick.
Place the brim of the hat on the jar. It may take a little gentle nudging to get it over the ridges of the jar, but then it will just fall into place and rest at the top of the jar. The brim is kept separate from the rest of the hat so you can remove the top hat portion if you need to.
Wrap the top hat around the har and mark where it should be adhered. I made my hats just loose enough that they could easily slide on and off the jar.
Cutting the Beard
Use the beard template to cut a beard for your gnome. Trace the template on the wrong side of the fur using a Sharpie marker.
Cut the fur using a sharp scissors from the back side, just cutting through the back layer of fabric. Once you get started you can just slide your scissors in against the fabric backing and cut it out without needing to cut through the fur as well. This will keep the fur on the front of the beard looking natural.
I haven’t used faux fur in years and made a few mistakes remembering the best way to cut it. So hopefully you can learn from my mistakes!! First I cut it from the front side – as soon as I saw what it looked like I remembered, nope, that’s not how you cut fur! The second time I cut my beard I cut it along the top of my faux fur sheet and the staple markings from the packaging were visible – oops! Thankfully third time was a charm :)
Use hot glue to adhere the beard along the top of the jar. I kept the hat on to figure out the placement of the beard but took it off for the picture.
Adding the Nose!
Finally, use hot glue to add a cute wooden bead to the top of the beard to act as the gnome nose! You can separate some of the hair at the top of the beard to look like a mustache before adding the wooden bead.
Using the Gnome Planters
The mason jar gnomes make the cutest vases and planters! I carefully filled one up with water and used it to hold green flowers I found at our local supermarket. Because the hats are made from paper, you do need to be a bit careful with water, especially with refilling the vase.
For my second gnome I used it to plant a shamrock plant. I removed the top of the paper hat and filled the jar 3/4 of the way with potting soil. In retrospect, I could have done this before ever adding the beard and nose since I did get some soil in the beard that I had to brush out. I then added the plant and watered it.
Since the shamrock was a small plant, I was able to gather it up and slip the top hat over it. If that doesn’t work, you could also have someone hold the plant up while you wrap the paper hat around it and adhere it that way. I think it will depend a lot on your plant and it’s size!
The gnome plants turned out SO cute!! I picked up some rainbow colored faux fur and can’t want to make an Easter bunny version!
Get the Free St. Patrick’s Day Gnome Files!
Fill out the purple form below with your first name and email address! The free file will be sent straight to your inbox! If you have already filled out the form below, don’t worry – you won’t be added to my list twice! This freebie is for personal use only. I hope you enjoy crafting something special. Please let me know if you have any questions :)
