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How to… make Christmas Elves (from Pine Cones or Gumnuts)

May 21, 2021

I love Autumn and I love Christmas – especial DIY Christmas Ornaments! And I love that the two come together… Today I have our “Christmas Elf Babies” – some from Australia and some from our local park. I know we still in October, but I collected some gumnuts from Australia MONTHS ago and recently my son found some mini pine cones in our local park. And I knew a craft I had to make. Some of you may have seen the gumnut octopuses and although I made those in honour of my Australian friends… I did want today’s craft to be for everyone. So you get to choose: Christmas Ornamental Elf Babies made from gumnuts or pine cones!

Pinecone Babies/ Pinecone Elves for the Christmas Tree. Turn mini pinecones and GUM NUTS into Christmas Tree Ornaments. Just adorable #gumnuts #pinecones #ornaments First published in Oct 2011

These lovelyย Ornaments is also included in our practical, easy to download and print out Christmas Ornament Book. Each craft is shared on one page – making the perfect worksheet print outs. Lovely to have them all in one place too!
christmas-ornaments-3d-images-1a

Only $7.99

Get yours today and keep it forever!

Pine Cone Elves – Materials:

  • A wooden bead,
  • a gumnut/ mini pine cone,
  • felt scraps,
  • ribbon scraps,
  • hot glue gun or wood glue,
  • brush & paint

(affiliate links added)

If you are using wood glue.. there is a certain amount of “sitting there and holding the bits until dries” to do.. that is what is so amazing about hot glue guns – everything sets so quickly!

Pine Cone Elves – How To:

christmas gumnut craft

1) Cut a triangle of felt and a felt flower (easiest way, is to cut a circle, then nip it 8 times & round the “nipped parts into petals”)

christmas gumnut craft

2) Cut a length of ribbon, a little hole in the two pieces of felt – in triangle – cut the hole close ish to the long side of the trianle, in the circle, cut it at the centre. Thread and tie a knot. Then using a hot glue gun, glue the triangle on, the bead to the flower the flower to the gum nut. Add a little extra glue to help the petals face down a little. Add a ribbon around the centre of the gumnut.

3) Paint on eyes and mouth. Don’t use a pen, as the ink will run into the grain of the wooden bead. A biro MAY work.. test first!

christmas craft christmas elves

4) Make lots of elf babies. These are our Australian elf babies.

Pinecone Babies/ Pinecone Elves for the Christmas Tree. Turn mini pinecones and GUM NUTS into Christmas Tree Ornaments. Just adorable #gumnuts #pinecones #ornaments

5) For the pine cone elf babies, do exactly the same, just use a mini pine cone. I flatened it a bit frist to help the bead nestle nicely.

Pinecone Babies/ Pinecone Elves for the Christmas Tree. Turn mini pinecones and GUM NUTS into Christmas Tree Ornaments. Just adorable #gumnuts #pinecones #ornaments

It was my first go with the hot glue gun.. so you can see the glue a little.. but all in all I am in love with my new babies!

Here is last year’s Christmas Felt Ornament if you fancy more ideas:

felt-christmas-ornaments

Want MORE Christmas Ornament ideas?! Check out:

handmade christmas tree ornaments

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Filed Under: Autumn, Christmas, How To's, Nature 43 Comments

Comments

  1. emma says

    October 21, 2011 at 5:49 am

    Love all the gumnuts that are creeping in! Fantastic!

    Reply
  2. Emma says

    October 21, 2011 at 6:08 am

    Love it, they are truly fabulous, I’m definitely going to try these with all the for cones I’ve collected this autumn.

    Reply
  3. Red Ted Art says

    October 21, 2011 at 6:31 am

    We love gumnuts too ๐Ÿ™‚ and we have SO many pine cones in our house…..

    Reply
  4. Emma @MummyMummyMum says

    October 21, 2011 at 7:42 am

    They are beautiful!! You are so clever Maggy! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  5. Red Ted Art says

    October 21, 2011 at 8:01 am

    Oh you are sweet Emma.. they are very simple to make……

    Reply
  6. Carolina J. says

    October 21, 2011 at 9:08 am

    They do look simple to make and aren’t they just charming? ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  7. Esther says

    October 21, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    Wow! They look so wonderful! Perfect to hang on the Christmas tree

    Reply
  8. fi (Childcare is Fun!) says

    October 21, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    Love them!

    Reply
  9. Judy says

    October 21, 2011 at 9:07 pm

    Those are so precious!

    Reply
  10. Annie says

    October 22, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    Ah! These are very cute indeed! Looks like a What?Wednesday idea to me… right I’m off to find pinecones!

    Thank you for inspiring me yet again!!!!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 22, 2011 at 4:38 pm

      You know… I was thinking the same Annie….

      Reply
  11. northernmum says

    October 22, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    all these comments saying simple!

    I look at them and think never in a million years, followed by, how much shall I offer the lovely Maggie to make them for me because I really want some!!!

    Jane x

    Reply
  12. Tanya says

    October 23, 2011 at 6:32 am

    They are so cute!
    Thank you very much for the tutorial.:)

    Reply
  13. Fran says

    October 23, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    These are adorable, thank you! Might have to sneak a few on the Christmas Tree too.

    p.s glue gun love ๐Ÿ˜€

    Reply
  14. Red Ted Art says

    October 24, 2011 at 10:41 am

    Aaah lovely and yes, we love glue guns!!!

    Reply
  15. Trish@MomOnTimeout says

    October 24, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    These are so adorable. They would make great present toppers and would look adorable hanging off a bag too. I’d love for you to share these at my linky party if you have a chance. http://www.momontimeout.com/2011/10/taking-timeout-thursday-link-party-no-1.html

    Reply
  16. Red Ted Art says

    October 24, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    Done!

    Reply
  17. creativejewishmom/sara says

    October 24, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    These are just adorable! Wish we had some gum nuts around here! thanks so much for sharing on Craft Schooling Sunday!

    Reply
  18. Trish@MomOnTimeout says

    October 26, 2011 at 1:21 am

    Making me wish for some gum nuts ๐Ÿ™‚ Thank you so much for sharing at Taking A Timeout Thursday!

    – Trish @ Mom On Timeout

    Reply
  19. ChrisTea And Cakes says

    October 28, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    Super cute!

    Reply
  20. mummiafelice says

    November 3, 2011 at 11:38 am

    These are amazing! Love them!! Thank you for linking up!

    Reply
  21. Liz@VioletPosy says

    November 7, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    They are gorgeous!! Can I use them as a Thrifty Christmas guest post? x

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      November 7, 2011 at 2:59 pm

      Ooh yes please!

      Reply
  22. Jaimee says

    December 12, 2011 at 7:56 pm

    These are DARLING! I’m linking to these in a Christmas Elf Crafts post in my Christmas Book Countdown series.

    Reply
  23. Red Ted Art says

    December 13, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    Aaah thank you!!

    Reply
  24. Denna says

    September 20, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    Just love these, so cute!! Do you have any idea where I can get gumnuts in the UK?

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      September 20, 2012 at 2:10 pm

      Argh, I confess, no you can’t get them here.. partly why I made the small “pinecone” versions ones too. I totally agree that the gumnut ones are 100% cute. I brought the gumnuts back from a holiday! Sorry!

      Reply
  25. Rae says

    November 23, 2012 at 11:29 am

    Hi there,

    Please could you email me about an online magazine feature that I would like you to be part of. We think this project is absolutely wonderful!

    Many thanks!

    Rae x

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      November 23, 2012 at 6:20 pm

      Have emailed!

      Reply
  26. plasterer bristol says

    December 5, 2016 at 3:04 pm

    Vey cute, i like and I’m sure my daughter will like them too.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Red Ted Art's Blog » Blog Archive » Christmas Get Crafty – Crafts & Ideas for Christmas says:
    November 1, 2011 at 5:02 am

    […] year’s Christmas decoration on Red Ted Art – our “Baby Elves” – we call them the Australian babies […]

    Reply
  2. Red Ted Art's Blog » Blog Archive » How To… Make (more) Christmas Elves says:
    November 11, 2011 at 4:28 am

    […] Welcome back to this week’s How To… and this week we have even MORE Christmas Elves. I just couldn’t resist. The basic elf is the same as the ones I showed you a couple of weeks […]

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  3. Some Seasonal Art & Craft ideas « Montessori Alliance says:
    December 7, 2012 at 3:49 pm

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    December 8, 2014 at 5:09 pm

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