How to Make a Valentine Gnome – Heart Sock Gnome Couple

Instructions

1. Make your gnome nose and hands by combining a portion of light brown and white polymer clay until you have the color you want. Roll a quarter-sized portion of this clay into a neat ball. This is the nose. Make a second nose. Set aside. Roll two nickel-sized portions of this clay into two neat balls. These are the hands. Make a second set of hands. Set aside.
2. Make the coffee by thoroughly combining red and white clay together to form a watermelon pink clay. Roll this into a cylinder about 3/4-inch thick. Set aside. Make a coffee cup by rolling a 1-inch by 1/2-inch section of white clay into a cylinder and, press a small depression into the top of the cylinder, making it slightly wider at the top with a depression. Press a 1/8-inch slice of the coffee into the depression in the cup.
3. Using your Exacto knife (the backside of the blade), make a lip on the top edge of the cup. Repeat to make a second coffee cup. Smooth the coffee cups and coffee to your heart's content.
4. Make a very tiny snake about 1/2 inch long and form into a "u" shape and press into the side of each cup. Bake the coffee cups, nose and hands per the clay package's directions. Allow them to cool fully.
5. Fill the crew cut socks with 1-2 cups of polyfill beads, rice or other fill material. Stuff the sock full with polyfill the rest of the way, making your gnome as plump as you'd like. Close the top with a piece of twine knotted and hot glued to keep it from unknotting. Repeat with the second crew sock. These are the gnome bodies. Set aside.
6. Lay the two red socks flat side by side. Cut both socks, starting at the heel, moving upward toward the toe, into a sharp cone shape, ending at the toe. Do not discard the piece of the remainder, but do set it aside. Turn the socks inside out.
7. Hot glue the two cut edges of one sock together, forming a hem. Repeat with the second sock. Allow the hot glue to cool/dry completely. Turn each sock right side out.
8. Twist two of the floral wires together end-to-end to make a much longer floral wire. Bend one end of each floral wire over about 1/4 inch to blunt the end. Slide a floral wire up into a red sock. Repeat with the other floral wire and sock. Do not trim the floral wires--leave them long because the sock will stretch.
9. Fill each of the red socks with polyfill, tucking it into the ends of the point, as best you can without making it lumpy. Slip a hat on the top of each gnome body, tucking a bit of polyfill around the knot on the top of the body to make the connection between the hat and body smooth.
10. Make the gnome beard by wrapping yarn into an 8-10-inch diameter loop about 20-30 times. I did this by grabbing a piece of cardboard about 8-inches long and wrapping the yarn around that, then sliding the wrapped yarn off.
11. Cut a small portion of yarn and wrap this through the loops of yarn and tie it into a knot to keep the large yarn loops in place. Brush or comb the yarn, gently, unwinding the individual threads to make a fluffy more fur or hair type texture. Trim the mass of brushed yarn into a beard shape that is a little bit longer than the gnome body.
12. Hot glue the yarn bead onto the body of the gnome, about an inch under the hat edge. Tuck a nose into the top of the bead, hot gluing it in place with the hat, creating a bit of a wrinkle.
13. To make the braids, wrap yarn into an 8-10-inch diameter loop about 10-15 times. I did this by grabbing a piece of cardboard about 8-inches long and wrapping the yarn around that, then sliding the wrapped yarn off.
14. Cut a small portion of yarn and wrap this through the loops of yarn and tie it into a knot to keep the large yarn loops in place. Brush or comb the yarn, gently, unwinding the individual threads to make a fluffy more fur or hair type texture. Attach one end of the yarn to a binder clip and tape the binder clip in place on your desk. Braid the brushed yarn.
15. Tie the end in place with ribbon and curl the ends. Remove from the binder clip. Trim the ends of the braid so that the yarn is fairly even. Repeat making a second braid.
16. Hot glue the braids on each side of the gnome's head, tucked up into the hat by about an inch. Hot glue the nose onto the girl gnome, tucking it up into the hat a little and securing it in place with a little wrinkle in the hat.
17. To make the apron for the little girl gnome, cut a scrap section of the discarded portion of sock about the width of her body and about half the height.
18. Fold the edges over and glue in place, creating a hem. Cut two lengths of the discarded sock portion about 1/4 inch wide, long enough to go down the front of the gnome, from the edge of the hat to the apron, with overhang on both ends--to make apron straps. Fold the strap pieces in on itself to form a hem.
19. Hot glue the apron in place, with the straps tucked up into the hat and hanging over the apron. Hot glue the rose baubles onto the straps where they overlap the apron.
20. With the scraps of red sock that you have remaining, cut two 1/2-inch wide sections as long as you can get. Fold this section of red sock fabric in half twice to form a hem and hot glue in place. Slip each arm up into the hat, behind the beard and braids and hot glue in place. Hot glue the hands onto the ends of the arms.
21. Hot glue a coffee cup between each hand of each gnome
22. Twist the two hats together, tightly, sewing or hot gluing it in place, if necessary, as many times as you can, leaving a 4-6 inch section loose at the top. Curve the loose sections of the hat toward each other and form a heart.
23. Hot glue the center of the heart in place and enjoy!