FCC 2024 Day 10: Bouquet Gnome Layered Designs
Welcome to day ten of the Floral Craft Countdown, where I’m sharing 14 flower themed Cricut papercraft projects in 14 days.
Woohoo, it’s GNOME DAY!! After all, it wouldn’t be a “Craft with Sarah” event without gnomes, right?!
These adorable gnomes are holding huge bouquets of flowers that are almost as tall as they are. I wonder who they are giving the flowers to?
This project was part of 2024's Floral Craft Countdown.
Materials supply list
Here is a list of the materials that I used to make this project.
Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.
- Cricut machine
- Light blue Cricut cutting mat
- Coloured Card
- Glue (I like Bearly Art Glue and Collall)
- 3D foam pads
This project is suitable for the following types of Cricut machine: Explore Air 2, Explore Air 3, Maker, Maker 3, Venture, Joy Xtra and Joy. You will need to make the design smaller to cut on the original Joy.
Foundation learning
If you're new to crafting with your Cricut, you may find the below links helpful.
They teach some of the skills mentioned throughout this tutorial.
- How to upload SVG files into Design Space
- How to make 3D layered Cricut projects
- The BEST way to frame papercraft projects
- How to mount multiple designs in the same frame with magic guides
- Hooks & stands to display papercrafts (or get extra fancy with easel stands!)
- How to score with a Cricut (even without scoring tools)
- Print then cut tutorial
- Design Space tools (Combine, Attach, Slice, Weld, Flatten, etc.)
- Pattern fill tutorial (for making backgrounds & cutting images to a specific shape/size)
- Free envelope SVGs that can be sized to fit any card, plus how to write the addresses with the Cricut
- Free presentation boxes for thicker greetings cards
- How to write inside cards with Cricut pens
- How to cut layered designs at a small size
- Design Space tips & tricks
- Cricut pens tutorial
Video tutorial
Watch the video below to see how to make this project. Keep scrolling for a written tutorial.
Written tutorial (with photos!)
Here’s how to make your very own flower gnomes using a Cricut machine!
Step 1) Download the cutting file & upload to Design Space
Download the files using the box below.
Purchase the File(s)
This cut file is available as part of the
Instant Access Bundle.
Or, purchase this design individually from my SVG shop
Before you upload the SVGs to Design Space, you need to unzip the download folder that they come in.
- How to unzip a folder on Windows computer
- How to unzip a folder on a Mac
- How to unzip a folder on an iPad/iPhone
- How to unzip a folder on an Android device
After unzipping, upload the SVG files into Cricut Design Space. These are the files that start svg- in the filename.
The male and female gnomes come as separate SVG files, so you need to upload them individually.
Not sure how to do this? Here’s how to upload SVGs to Cricut Design Space. Make sure you upload the file which starts svg- in the filename!
Step 2) Size the gnomes
Click the designs on your canvas and use the width/height boxes near the top of the screen to make them the size that you want to cut.
TIP: Make sure the padlock icon above the width/height boxes is CLOSED before you resize. If it appears “open”, click it with your mouse to close it.
I cut the male gnome at 7 inches tall and the female gnome at 8 inches tall. They end up looking in proportion with each other, as the female gnome’s hat is tall/pointed whereas the male gnome’s hat folds over at the top.
I don’t recommend going smaller than 3 inches tall, as some of the details will get hard to cut. Here’s a tutorial on how to cut designs really small with a Cricut.
If you are cutting the gnomes on the original Cricut Joy machine, you’ll need to make them a maximum of 4.5 inches on the shortest side.
If you are cutting the design to fit in a specific frame, watch this video to see my top tips on how to resize it to fit perfectly, or read the tutorial here.
There are similar colours in each gnome, but they aren’t quite the same.
If you’ll be cutting them at the same time then you can use the “Color Sync” button at the top of the layers panel to consolidate some of the colours, or do it manually by clicking the layers in the layers panel and adjusting the colours.
However, I found it much easier to cut one gnome at a time, so that I didn’t have to worry about the layer colours.
To do that, hover your mouse over one of the gnomes in the layers panel and click the eye icon that appears to hide it from your project. Cut the remaining gnome, then return to the Canvas and hide that gnome. Turn the other gnome back on by hovering back in the layers panel and clicking the eye again to make it visible, then cut that one out.
Step 3) Cut out all the layers
When you’re happy with how the project is looking in Design Space, click “Make” and follow the instructions on-screen to cut out all the pieces.
To change the paper size, go into the dropdowns over on the left side of the screen and choose the paper size that you want to use. You need to change it for every single colour.
To save space on your cardstock, you can move things around by clicking and dragging. Make sure when you’re moving things about that nothing overlaps because otherwise, it won’t cut out properly.
TIP: New to cutting cardstock with a Cricut? Check out this in-depth tutorial which goes through every step of the process, including tips for getting the best quality cuts from your Cricut.
Step 4) Stick the project together
Use 3D foam pads and glue to stick the layers together.
Use these guides to see the order to stick the layers together in.
Printable versions of these assembly guides are included in the folder when you download the cut files.
My favourite glues to use on papercraft projects are Bearly Art Glue and Collall All Purpose Glue.
These are great because they don’t “warp” or bend the cardstock like some glues do. You can use as much of it as you want and the card stays perfect – and it dries perfectly clear too!
Bearly Art Glue comes with a tiny nozzle to make it easy to apply glue to small areas of card. The Collall glue doesn’t come with this, so it’s easiest to decant it into needle tip applicator bottles so that you have more control.
The foam pads that I use are from “Dot & Dab”, but any foam squares will work. If yours are big then you may need to cut them smaller with scissors to fit inside the edges of the layers.
When adding the foam pads to larger pieces of card, make sure you add some in the middles of the pieces of card so it gives stability to the middles.
If you don’t add any foam pads in the middles then it can “sag” under the weight of the other layers which doesn’t look as good.
Continue sticking the pieces together, following the assembly guides, until your gnomes are all finished.
Bouquet gnome papercraft designs
After sticking all the pieces of card together, you’ll have two lovely gnomes all finished!
If you don’t want to mount your gnomes in a shadow box, check out these free easel stands for two alternative ways to display them.
Or, go for a more simplistic approach by making a triangle stand or nail hook.
The triangle stands are completely invisible from the from of the project, making your gnomes look like they are standing up by magic! The hooks allow you to hang the designs straight on the wall without a frame.
Happy crafting,
Sarah x