Keep this gnome friend around to bestow holiday magic (and maybe just wrap a gift or two!). Never needle felt before? Read up on the basics -you can do it! 

Grab the supplies:
Roving in Peacock, Crimson + Latte (or your choice of skin color). 
Bits of roving in Black and White
White curls roving
Needle felting needle -the 'refill' pack is all you need!
Needle felting foam (always needle felt on foam + keep an eye out on your fingers!)

You can make our gnome friend -even if you have never felted before! You'll find it helpful to read up on the basics of felting first (you want to keep those fingers safe!) 

1. You can make your gnome any size you would like -ours are about 6-7" tall. First take a 10" strip of your base color (we used Peacock), wind tightly around a thin dowel or pencil. Gently pull off of pencil and needle felt in place. You can see from the photo the start and how you would like your finished body to look. Pro tip: Don't forget to felt in the top and bottom of your gnome body or you will end up will a super tall and skinny gnome! 

2. Then take a 10" strip of your hat color (we used Crimson) and thin out the top (you will do this by pulling out roving) to form an angle (as shown). This will help form the cone of your hat. 

3. Wind the crimson roving around the thin dowel into a cone shape and felt into place. Add in details of the hat folds. You can see the beginning felting stages on the left and the finished hat on the right. Feel free to add in more roving to obtain the desired shape. 

4. Needle felt a sphere shaped head, needle felt to gnome base. Tip, to be speedy we used a Medium Latte felt pom. 

5. Needle felt just a bit of white roving into the back of the head -it's the gnomes hair!  

6. After the hat is attached to the head take extra Crimson roving and wrap around base of hat and head, needle felt till firm. 

7. Roll a small ball of skin colored roving (we used Latte) into a ball, needle felt until firm and attach to face, lining up right under the base of the hat.

8. Add the curls! Gently place the curls just where you would like your gnomes face to be. If needed, arrange and fold curls where you would like felting into place. 

9. Take the tiniest wisp of black roving (much smaller then the photo shows!), roll between fingers to form into a small ball and felt eyes into place. 

You can give so much personality to your gnomes just by adjusting the side and folds of the hat -or even how big you make his gnomes! A gnome friend will always leave good cheer! 

We really love mermaids (check out this sparkly banner or our beautiful costume tail) and had to make up some dolls too! Utilizing basic wood pieces, Benzie felt and beginner needle felting techniques -you'll have a gorgeous collection of 'maids and 'men in no time! 

Supplies needed, click to buy at www.benziedesign.com

Wool Blend Felt -we used colors Pink, Rose, Swan, Sky and Lilac
Wool Roving -we used the colors Rose, Peacock, Nightingale, Vineyard and Thistle
Wood Clothespins and heads
Needle felting pad
Needle felting needle
Fabric Marker (we like that this one doesn't bleed on the wood!)
Ink -we used Chambray, Plumeria, Dark Peony and Spa
Tacky Glue
Scissors
Pattern, PDF or SVG

Step One:
Print off your pattern and cut out your felt shapes! You can do this by printing on regular printer paper, pin to your felt and cut out the shapes but we find the freezer paper method our favorite way! And for those of you who have a Cricut Maker -we included the cvg file -note that the smaller shapes can get a little choppy on the Maker and may need to be cleaned up with scissors!

Step Two:
Gluing part! Grab your clothespin, fill the head up with glue and attach. Then take your coordinating tails (note there is a front and a back, and a straight and a curved tail). Glue the tails onto the doll making sure the fins line up. You don't need a lot of glue -just enough for the perimeter. Then add tail details such as the scallop top. Feel free to cut down the tail for a merman! 

Step Three:
Take out your roving! If you have never needle felted before you may want to read this beginner tutorial -but playing with this mermaid hair is perfect for someone wanting to get a taste of roving! We suggest using the felting tool to form the hair but you can always forgo this step too! Gently pull apart about a 1 1/2 x 12" inch piece of roving. You can make it any length you want but I think mermaids look best in long hair! I also added small wisps of other colors of roving at this time as mermaids love long and colorful hair!

Fold the length of roving in half. Using the doll head, form the roving to the head.

Remove roving from the head and use the needle felting needle and foam pad to style the hair in place. I love felting in a side part! You will form the mermaids wig prior to attaching it.

Place glue on the head and place the mermaid hair over the top. Finish styling the hair in place added details such as stars or flowers. 

Step Four:
Finish off the doll by adding eyes with this marker (it doesn't bleed on the wood!) and gluing on felt cheeks cheeks! We also applied a little ink in to their tails -it adds a bit of depth to the felt! Alternately you can use a q-tip to blush up their cheeks with the ink. 

To make a merman I used Benzie's Ginger felt to make a crown and added a beard! 

Make a swim school of magical mermaids for yourself or with your favorite ocean princess -kids will love this! Share what you make with #benziefelt on Facebook or Instagram!