minorDIY

DIY pop up gnome card

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Learn how to use Cricut Design Space to score, draw and cut out everything for this fun pop up gnome card in the step by step tutorial below! It’s the perfect, most adorable DIY holiday card.

Lots of Christmas cards arrive in the mail, right? Many of them with a peaceful winter scene, a printed messaged and a signature. These cards are nice…. but destined for the trash can on January 1st.

THIS holiday card will hold a place of honor and be kept and enjoyed for months to come!

DIY Holiday card inside - gnome pop-up - Merry Christmas from our gnome to yours
DIY Holiday card front

Imagine the smile on your loved one’s face as they pull the card out of the envelope, and the delight as the gnome leaps out of the card with arms wide open. Imagine how they will close the card, and open it again and again to see how it works. (Everyone who has received one of my pop-up cards have told me that it’s still displayed in their home!)

The gnomes have taken over! Don’t miss the five other gnome crafts linked at the bottom of this post.

What you’ll need to make this pop up Christmas card:

  • Pop Up Gnome Card SVG (available from my free files folder)
  • method of cutting out the card – I love my Cricut Maker!!
  • tool to score – I use the scoring wheel on the Cricut Maker
  • gray and black markers for the eyes, mouth and beard – I’ve shown how to make this project using the Cricut fine-tip markers and Sharpie markers
  • two pages of light white card stock (for the base and the beard) – around 60 lb or 160 gsm is great!
  • colored or patterned cardstock for the card back, body, boots, mittens, hat, face and nose (lighter cardstock is preferable for this project)
  • glue – my two favorite kinds are Aleene’s Tacky Glue and Art Glitter Glue
  • markers, pens or stickers if you want to decorate the card even more

Are you looking for an easier project? Try the print and cut version of the gnome pop up card instead.

How to use the Pop Up Gnome SVG file in Cricut Design Space:

1. Download the “Pop Up Gnome Card SVG” file. Unzip the file, and then upload the SVG file to Design Space.

2. You’ll need to convert all of the red “Cut” lines to “Score” and attach them in the correct places. Follow the images below to ensure you have the correct lines changed and attached to the correct layer.

Cricut Design Space - change cut to score
See how the line in the center shows at “Cut” on the right side? Highlight it, then use the drop down menu on the left to change it to “Score.”
Cricut Design Space - change cut to score
After changing it to “Score”, use the Attach button to attach the score line and the hat shape cut together.
Cricut Design Space - attach score line to nose
Change the cut line to score and attach it to the nose.
Cricut Design Space - change cut to draw on all beard layers except the last layer
Change the mouth, the small pieces of the beard, and the top two layers of the beard outline to “draw.” Only the bottom shape of the beard should be cut out.
Cricut Design Space - change cut to score on the beard layers and attach them with the draw layers.
Change all lines to score, then attach all of the score and draw lines to the beard cut out.
Cricut Design Space - change cut to score on the body lines
The body has three scores lines that need to be changed and attached.
Cricut Design Space - change cut to score and cut to score on the head
The face has a score line and the eyes are set to draw. (It’s too difficult to cut out and glue on such little details!)
Cricut Design Space - change cut to score and attache on the base pop-up piece
This is the base of the pop-up. You can use plain white card stock, or use a color that matches the base of your card.

3. Cut, score and draw the free gnome SVG using your Cricut. Remember to do a test cut to get the right pressure on your materials!

Materials needed to put together the pop up gnome card.
Here are all of the pieces and materials you need for the gnome card.
(You can add more for decoration or messages later.)

How to assemble the DIY pop up gnome card:

Folding and glueing the card is a bit complicated, so I’ve create a time lapse video showing you the exact steps and how exactly to fold and glue the pop-up gnome. You’ll want to both watch the video and follow the photo tutorial below.

1. Fold the pop-up gnome base piece as shown in the first part of the video.

2. Glue the boots and the arms on the pop-up base. (The arms can be up to 1 cm away from the fold lines.) Also, glue on the mittens and the cuffs.

Pop Up Gnome Card - Glue on boots, arms, mittens and cuffs.

3. Fold the card backing in half. Glue the pop-up base to the card back.

4. Crease the body, and glue it on to the base. Fold up the card while the glue is wet so you can ensure the card folds in half and the body folds into it.

Pop Up Gnome Card - Glue on the body.

5. Fill in the eyes with a black marker. Glue the head on. (You can see where to glue it – the head fits on top of the two notches that are similar to a neck.) Glue the hat on too.

Pop Up Gnome Card - Glue on the face and hat.

6. Crease the beard and glue it on too. Again, make sure it folds into the card while the glue is still wet.

Pop Up Gnome Card - Finally, glue on the beard and then the nose.

7. Glue the gnome’s nose on.

8. Add your preferred greeting (the messages shown below are all PNG files in the Gnome SVG file you downloaded) or create your own.

Pop Up Gnome Card - printable holiday greetings

You’re done! (Show it to me by tagging me on Instagram.)

DIY Holiday card front - Let it Snow
DIY Holiday card inside - gnome pop-up - Season's Greetings

Ready to download the free SVG or printable? Head over to the 📂 Free Files Folder and enter the ✨ magic word. ✨ (If you don’t have the magic word, just fill in the form below first.)

The gnomes have taken over!

Check out these other awesome gnome crafts.

Save this for later by pinning on Pinterest!

Looking for more DIY projects for your cutting machine? Try these!

Cricut-made Surprise Pop-Up Cubes in a gift box
Cricut-made Unicorn Pop-Up Card

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