Easy DIY Dollar Tree Fall Gnome Wreath

This Fall Gnome Wreath is not only the cutest thing ever, but it’s also a super easy DIY that only costs about $12 to make!

If you asked me back at the tail end of 2019, I would have told you that one was definitely enough.

In December of that year, we made our first gnomes.

And had you asked, I would have told you that was the end of it.

One and done, baby. Made ’em once and gno’more.

Of course, I also would have told you that we would continue living in Connecticut and that life would carry on much as it had for the past several thousand years.

Thus we answer yet again the age-old question: what do I know?

If you answered, nuthin‘ – congratulations! You win a golden peanut!

Fast forward through Georgia to Florida and four more gnome projects, and there’s gnome end in sight. Just as we became known early on for our Halloween projects, we’re now getting known (or would it be gnown?) for our gnomes.

The best part is our gnomes are ICE ICE, baby – Inexpensive, Cute and Easy. What more could you possibly want from a gnome? Breakfast in bed and whispered sweet nothings? Well, we’re working on that, but for now, would you settle for one that hangs on your door and looks like late afternoon sunlight?

Good, let’s get gnoming!

DIY Fall Gnome Wreath VIDEO TUTORIAL

You may want to watch our short video below for an overview of this easy fall gnome wreath before you read the detailed step-by-step tutorial.

How to Make a Fall Gnome Wreath, Part 1: Beard

Step 1 – Unravel the tinsel hat

Honestly, if you want to be Lazy Bananas about this step, feel free to skip it. The tinsel will be completely covered by your gnome hat in the end. I removed the tinsel because it was easier to thread the zip ties through a clean hat frame. Feel free to leave it though!

Oh, and if you’re wondering why the Christmas tinsel hat and not something more autumn-esque like a witch hat, well, it was supposed to be made from a witch hat, but I couldn’t find the ones we bought last year. Thank god my babes found this one in a tub of Christmas stuff, otherwise Yours Truly would have been in the dog house!

Step 2 – Pick your picks

Okay so what are these? Picks? Stems? Sprays? Sprigs? Bouquets? Bunches? Shopping for this stuff is like talking to an Eskimos about snow – there are semantic subtleties I just don’t get!

Anyway, pick about 8 – that’s the number we used, and I think it’s a mighty fine number. Note that Dollar Tree carries these in oak leaves, maple leaves, grape leaves and unidentified leaves, so have fun shopping!

Step 3 – Get a rough idea of the arrangement

I arranged the leaf beard without securing any of the florals to the hat frame. When I was happy with the beard, I carefully picked up the arrangement and moved it aside, making sure I kept the shape. Turning back to my work area, I flipped the hat form over so the back of it was facing up.

Step 4 – Arrange and zip-tie the florals to the hat form

Starting with the top-most florals in my beard arrangement, I picked one at a time, flipped it over (remember, the hat form is now flipped), and put it in its place. For this particular floral, I had bent the leaves out as shown in the picture below. It helped fill out the upper part of our gnome wreath beard.

I used small zip ties to secure the florals to the hat form – 2 for each pick.

I then trimmed the zip ties with scissors.

This is the last time I’ll show the zip-tie and trim pics. From here on out, the pics will show the placement of the florals, and since I know we have the best and smartest readers out there (ugh, so much better than the weirdos who read that other blog), I can rest easy knowing (gnowing?) you’re still with me and filling in the blanks.

I put the next pick in the middle, filling out the uppermost part of the beard/mustache.

Another pick in the middle – this one a slightly different shade to give some color variation.

Then a red/orange on the left…

…and one mirrored on the right.

I added two sprigs of white to give my little gnomish fellow a distinguished and erudite look.

I put the final floral pick in the middle, lower than the others. This helped to round out the classic gnome-shape for the beard.

My fall gnome wreath beard was finished. Now it was time to make my fine little fellow a fitting hat.

How to Make a Fall Gnome Wreath, Part 2: Hat

Step 1 – Flip

Flip the gnome wreath back over so he’s facing up. Take this opportunity to fluff the beard and adjust the leaves to fill in any bald spots. To be on the safe side, you can buy an extra floral pick and use individual leaves or leaf pairs to fill in any glaring gaps, should you find any. The leaves come in pairs, joined at the stem, and I used two pairs from an extra pick to fill in two spots near the top. Not necessary, but it can be done, if you’re a perfectionist.

Step 2 – Cut the hat material

You can use any material you like for the hat, but we like the look of an old sweater. As we were looking through our gnome-making tub…yes, we have a tub full of gnome-making supplies, don’t you?? Anyway, as we were pawing through that tub, my babes found the same sweater (minus the right arm) that I used for my favorite of the Christmas gnomes that I made back in 2019 – the one pictured at the beginning of this post.

We agreed that the soft blue would be the perfect complement to the fiery oranges and dusty reds in the beard.

I cut off the left arm, starting about halfway down the torso and carrying up to the neck (yeesh, this is starting to sound like a horror movie!).

Next, I cut the remains of the right arm in the same manner.

Step 3 – Make the brim

To make the brim of the gnome wreath hat, I folded up the bottom of the sweater once…

…then I folded it over again.

I then ran hot glue under the fold and pressed the brim into place.

Step 4 – Attach the hat to the beard

I positioned the hat where I wanted it to be.

Then I folded it back, exposing the frame underneath. I ran hot glue all over the frame.

And then I pressed the sweater back into place.

After letting the hot glue cool for a few seconds, I carefully flipped the gnome wreath over so I could secure the back of the hat.

Starting with the corners, I put some hot glue on the frame and folded the excess sweater material over on it. At no point of gluing the sweater to the frame did i pull the material tight. Loosey-goosey is the name of the game.

I repeated this on the other side.

Next, I ran hot glue up the entire side of the hat frame and folded the material over.

Ditto the other side, then I put some glue up top and folded the flaps over.

Then I went back and reinforced any areas where the sweater was not glued down.

Step 5 – Tie off the hat

I used a small rubber band to tie off the hat, but you can use string or even a zip tie.

Step 6 – Add a nose

We’re big fans of using wood hemispheres for gnome noses, but you could use anything spherical or hemispherical: a 1/2 ping pong ball, a 1/2 foam ball or even a foam pumpkin. Totally up to you and what you think looks good!

To attach the nose, I just glopped on a bunch of hot glue…

…and then stuck that sucker in place.

To prevent the hat from riding up from the nose, I added a dab of glue to keep it in place.

Step 7 – Embellish

I used the berries and pumpkin from some other Dollar Tree flower picks we had on hand to embellish the hat. You can use anything you think looks good.

And with that, my fall gnome wreath was finished and ready to hang. Before we get to the beauty shots, don’t forget to check out our other gnome tutorials!

Okay, now let’s have a look at our fall gnome wreath!

He looks fantastic in our newly-refreshed side entrance!

What do you think of our gnomish lad? Let us know in the comments!