Tomato Cage Halloween Gnome!
I seem to have this thing about gnomes. And tomato cages give me some nice sized ones perfect for the porch or my fairy garden. This guy looks like a wizard to me, lol.
I made an easy one for Christmas last year HERE but oh wow, this Halloween one was even easier to do and took me less than 30 minutes to put together!
Gather your materials
All you need for each halloween gnome is:
- a tomato cage (had it!)
- black vinyl tablecloth from Dollar Tree
- "creepy black cloth" from Dollar Tree
- witch or wizards pointy hat from Dollar Tree
- string mop from Dollar Tree
- a potato for the nose (some people use pantyhose)
- wire coat hanger to hang your potato on & attach the beard to
- 1 or 2 zip ties to secure things
- metal stakes or bricks so it won't topple in the wind (optional)
- spider & web stuff from Dollar Tree (optional)
Zip tie it
Zip tie the 3 prongs of your tomato cage near the top.
Get your plastic tablecloth and...
Trim the tablecloth to the length you like. You want to poke the middle of it onto the 3 prongs you've zip tied so it hides the tomato cage.
Get your "creepy cloth"
Drape the black "creepy cloth" over the 3 prongs to hold it in place. Arrange it over the black tablecloth any way you like it.
Bend your wire hanger
Keep the hanger hook intact but bend the rest up and hang it from the 3 prongs of the tomato cage.
Attach the potato
Just poke the potato with the hanger hook and move it around so it hangs the way you want.
Dismantle the string mop
To dismantle your string mop from Dollar Tree unscrew the handle and set aside. The plastic piece came apart for me when I tried to slide some of the mop strings out- yay!
I have another project I'm using the handle for!
Attach the mop strings
Tie the mop strings onto the wire hanger and unwind each strand. Attach and arrange them so they lay beside and behind the potato nose.
When the beard is as full and long as you want move or trim any random pieces.
Put the hat on
It will sit there just fine when you pull it down.
Adjust the nose if needed
Now that the hat is on you may need to adjust the wire hanger holding the potato nose. Fix the nose so it rests just below the hat.
Add your spider or other final touches
I decided to attach the glitter spider (optional) to his black cloak so it would show up. But if your spider is black it might look best on his beard!
Side view
I like how easy and inexpensive it was. It cost me less then $5 to make and the only tool needed was scissors!
And here is my halloween gnome outdoors with other decorations.
I love hearing what others would you do differently so let me know!
DIY Halloween crafts
Resources for this project:
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Comments
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I just made this and it looks pretty good. I wasn't able to find a cheap mop at any of the dollar stores in our area and we have a lot, so I had to buy a replacement mop head.
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So cute you inspired me
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Won’t the potato get funky after awhile and start smelling????
SO. CUTE!!!!
Super super cute