Autumn Leaf Gnomes 🍂 FCC 05

Meet the sweetest autumn gnome SVGs to make with your Cricut – and some of their woodland friends too!

Today’s project is one of my favourites from this year’s event: a pair of adorable autumn gnomes playing in a pile of crunchy, colourful leaves.

With their cosy hats, forest animal friends and plenty of fall foliage, these layered cardstock designs are perfect for celebrating the changing seasons.

The download includes two separate SVG files: one male gnome and one female gnome.

Fall gnome layered SVG files by Craft with Sarah

You can make them individually or display them together as a matching pair in a shadow box frame.

They’re also perfect for autumn greetings cards, seasonal home décor and other papercraft projects.

Gnomes have always been some of the most popular designs from my Craft Countdown events, and I enjoy creating new ones for every event.

Whether you’re just starting out with gnome themed SVG projects, or you’re adding to your already extensive collection, these two are sure to become a favourite this autumn.

Autumn gnomes 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 (any thickness)
Glue (I like Bearly Art Glue and Collall)
3D foam pads

This project is suitable for the following types of Cricut machines: Explore series, Maker series, Joy Xtra, Joy and Joy 2. You will need to make the design smaller to cut on the Joy or Joy 2.

Forest Gnome SVGs from Craft with Sarah

Foundation learning

If you're new to making papercrafts with your cutting machine, check out these links to get you started.

They include videos on topics such as: which file to use with your type of cutting machine, how to load the files into your cutting machine's software, how to cut cardstock with your type of cutting machine, how to recolor and modify/customize the cut files and tips for displaying your projects.

The following tutorials are Cricut-specific, but many of the ideas will work similarly with a Silhouette or ScanNCut machine and any cut files that are shared in them are compatible with all types of cutting machine.

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
Presentation boxes for handmade 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
How to mount multiple designs in the same frame with magic guides

Cricut gnome craft video tutorial

Watch the video below to see how to make this project. Keep scrolling for a written tutorial.

Want to share your thoughts on this project? Click here to visit the video on YouTube.

Written tutorial (with photos!)

Here’s how to make woodland gnome papercrafts using a Cricut machine.

Step 1) Download the cutting file & upload to Design Space

Get the files using the box below.

Purchase the File(s)

This cut file is available as part of the Instant Access Bundle.

Find out more

Or, purchase the designs individually:

Autumn Leaf Gnome SVG – Female

Autumn Leaf Gnome SVG – Male

Autumn Leaf Gnome SVGs

Before you upload the SVGs to Design Space, you need to unzip the download folder that they come in.

Not sure how to do this? Click here for a tutorial that covers all the following types of computer and device:

How to unzip a folder on a Windows computer
How to unzip a folder on a Mac
How to unzip a folder on an iPad
How to unzip a folder on an iPhone
How to unzip a folder on an Android device

How to unzip download folders

After unzipping, upload the SVG file(s) into your cutting machine software.

Not sure how to use cut files with your type of machine? The following links lead to tutorials on how to use cut files in:

If you are using Cricut Design Space, start a new project and then click the “Upload” button on the left of the screen.

You can then either click “Browse” to find the files on your computer, or drag-and-drop them in.

Select the files in the “01 Cricut Version” subfolders.

Each gnome comes as a separate SVG so you will need to upload them both individually.

The filenames are svg-01-gnome-leaves-m-craftwithsarah.svg and svg-01-gnome-leaves-f-craftwithsarah.svg.

Press “Upload” on the next screen.

After uploading, the design should be automatically inserted onto your Canvas.

To hide the left sidebar (to give you more space for designing!), click the arrow that’s about half way down the page.

If the design doesn’t get inserted onto your Canvas, it will show under “Uploads” in your “Recently Uploaded Images”. Click on it and then press “Add to Canvas” to put it onto your Project.

Need help uploading SVGs? Get step-by-step instructions here in our detailed help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut.

Step 2) Size the design

Click the design on your canvas and use the width/height boxes near the top of the screen to make it 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 my gnomes at the size the SVGs loaded in at. They both load in at 6 inches wide and 7 inches tall.

You can go smaller with these designs – down to around 5 inches tall should cut fine, just watch out for the animals as they will get quite tiny! Here’s a tutorial on how to cut designs really small with a Cricut.

If you are cutting the gnomes on a Cricut Joy or Joy 2 machine then you’ll need to make them a maximum of 4.5 inches on the shortest side.

Here are some tips for making sure the design fits perfectly into a shadow box frame:

The below video has some tips on how to frame your craft project, including my Number One hack for making sure that your design will fit perfectly every time without wasting any of your craft materials.

Don't have a Cricut? Check out my top framing tips for:

Silhouette Studio (for Silhouette machines)
CanvasWorkspace (for ScanNCut machines)

Want to learn more about designing your own shadow box backgrounds? Check out this Papercraft Porch Class on creating custom backgrounds for frames and greetings cards.

There are matching versions of this video for Silhouette and ScanNCut machines on the Cutting Machine Help page.

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.

I prefer to cut the gnomes one-at-a-time, so that it’s easier to match up which piece goes with which gnome – particularly when some pieces are similar between them such as the leaf shapes.

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 using cardstock with your cutting machine? Check out these machine help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut that go through every step of the process, including tips for getting the best quality cuts from your machine.

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.

Gnome craft projects to make with a Cricut

After sticking all the pieces of card together, your autumn gnomes are all finished!

You could then mount them in a shadow box or glue them to the front of a greetings card.

If you’d rather not 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 front of the project, making it look like it’s standing up by magic! The hooks allow you to hang the design straight on the wall without a frame.

Autumn gnome SVGs by Craft with Sarah

Love gnome craft projects?

Check out these other themed gnome crafts that are perfect for celebrating the great outdoors!