This chubby little gnome dressed like Uncle Sam is proudly saluting behind an American flag planter, making it the perfect addition to your handmade greeting cards for veterans and military personnel!
One thing to keep in mind before we get started… this is merely a guide to assemble the dimensional accent in a way that resembles the pictured version. We encourage you to unleash your creativity and explore alternative layouts, add your own touches (such as inking, embossing, glitter, etc) and make this project reflect your own style or the future greeting card recipient’s personality.
Are you ready to bring this work of art to life? Let’s get started!
How to Assemble this Dimensional Paper Accent…
Things You’ll Need:
- Uncle Sam Gnome set
- Liquid craft glue
We like using clear Elmer’s glue. - Craft tweezers
Additional Supplies (Optional):
These items are purely optional and simply allow you to take the design to the next level!
- Adhesive foam pieces for extra dimension
- Ink pads and brushes for shading
- Glitter
- Accents such as rhinestones, pearls, etc.
Important Notes:
*The colors and patterns of the pieces will vary from set to set based on paper availability.
*This set contains small pieces! Not intended for use by small children.
*Use ink pads and brushes to lightly shade the pieces in this set before assembling to give the finished design extra dimension.
Let’s Get Started!
Step 1:
Glue the white stripe pieces onto the red flag planter so that the rows alternate: stars, stripe, stars, stripe, stars.
Glue the blue field piece on the assembled planter, aligning the top left corners of both pieces.
Step 2:
Glue the flower petals onto the flag planter.
Glue the flower center inside the flower petals.
Glue the green leaf pieces under the edges of the flower petals.
Helpful tip: Use craft tweezers to make picking up and placing these small flower pieces a little bit easier!
Step 3:
Glue the “U”, “S”, and “A” pieces onto the blue area of the flag planter.
Glue the tiny stars around the “USA” on the flag planter.
Helpful tip: Use craft tweezers to make picking up and placing these small pieces a little bit easier!
Step 4:
Glue the handle pieces behind the assembled flag planter, with the handles pointing down.
Glue the oval shadow piece under the bottom of the assembled flag planter.
Helpful tip: Use craft tweezers to make picking up and placing these tiny handle pieces a little bit easier!
Step 5:
Glue the white hat stripe pieces onto the hat base, aligning the stripes within the embossed areas.
Glue the hat brim on top of the hat base, aligning the bottom edges of both pieces.
Step 6:
Glue the hat band onto the assembled hat so that it rests just above the hat brim.
Glue the star piece onto the assembled hat.
Helpful tip: Use craft tweezers to make picking up and placing these tiny pieces a little bit easier!
Step 7:
Glue the two suspender pieces onto the body piece, aligning the bottom edges of both pieces.
Step 8:
Glue the beard piece onto the assembled body.
Glue the assembled hat onto the beard so that it overlaps slightly.
Step 9:
Glue the mustache piece onto the beard so that it just touches the bottom edge of the hat brim.
Glue the nose piece on top of the mustache, where it meets the hat brim.
Step 10:
Glue the assembled planter on top of the assembled body so that they overlap slightly.
Glue the bird feathers piece on top of the yellow bird body piece so that the beak is visible.
Glue the assembled bird on the edge of the flag planter, above the “USA” area.
Step 11:
Glue the cuff pieces onto their matching sleeve pieces.
Glue the bent arm piece on top of the saluting hand piece.
Glue the straight arm piece on top of the curved hand piece.
Helpful tip: Use craft tweezers to make picking up and placing these tiny pieces a little bit easier!
Step 12:
Glue the assembled straight arm behind the body on the right side.
Glue the assembled saluting arm behind the body on the left side, making sure the hand piece is glued on top of the hat brim.
Voila! You’ve just assembled the Uncle Sam Gnome paper accent. Add it to your handmade greeting card to create a truly one-of-a-kind item that is ready to be given or sent to friends and family. We hope you enjoyed the crafting time we shared today and encourage you to take a look at our many other dimensional paper accents which can be found on our Make It page as well as our Etsy shop.
Have a blessed day!
– MadeCreatively
MadeCreatively