Deco Pumpkins

September 22, 2011 in For the Holidays, Gettin' Crafty

I whipped up this little crafty project this week and couldn’t be happier.  First things first… give credit where credit is due!  I saw these cute pumpkins at Arts VaVa and just HAD to make my own!  Scroll down a bit on her page and you’ll see her version.

I jogged on over to the dollar store. No, don’t be ridiculous… I didn’t ACTUALLY jog. Have you seen me lately?  Clearly I’m not jogging anywhere!  More like rolled…. in my car….  I grabbed two foam carve-able (is that a word?) pumpkins for guess how much!?   A DOLLAR.  They don’t call it the dollar store for nuttin’!  So two pumpkins… two bucks… and I was on my way.

I also needed modge podge, a cheap brush, some book pages, moss and spray adhesive. Check, check, check and CHECK. All were already on hand from previous projects and purchases… Thanks to my recent thrift store run I had an encyclopedia on hand with 2000+ pages. I could make an entire pumpkin patch!

Here’s a quick finished shot for all of you that like to get straight to the punch.  I’ll show the how-to and more final pics below.

Click ‘Continue Reading’ for the full Run-down on how to make these pumpkins!

…and here’s the break down!

First I spray painted the bright orange pumpkin with a grey primer. White would work fine too… I just used what I had on hand.  Break out your modge podge (or hodge podge as my sister calls it) and tear up some pages and you’re ready to go.

First, use your exacto knife to cut off the stem and then cut a whole in the top.

         

I started modge-podge-ing (yup, that’s a word) the bottom first and worked my way to the top.

When I got to the top I tucked the strips in the hole and modge-podged them in place. This part probably isn’t necessary since you won’t see it, but it just felt right to me…

I let mine dry overnight and came back to it in the morning…

I tried two different techniques for the moss. On the first pumpkin I found a stick with a snug fit in the hole, snapped off to the appropriate length and stuck it in the pumpkin. It held pretty firmly so I just gave the top of the pumpkin a couple quick shots of spray adhesive and then quickly pushed some small bunches of moss. I thought it needed a little something extra so I wrapped some jute around the base and knotted it off.

You can see in the picture below that I tried to align the column spacers on the book pages with the vertical grooves of the pumpkin when I could. I thought it helped to keep the lines clean on the pumpkin.  :-)

The second pumpkin was a bit different. It’s pictured on the right in the next picture.

For this pumpkin I used my miter saw to cut the branch. I like the clean cut look also… it’s just a matter of preference. The stick didn’t fit as tightly because I had inadvertently cut my hole smaller on this pumpkin. I had to get creative…..  This time I clumped up a ball of moss, gave the bare pumpkin top a spray of adhesive and then quickly pressed the moss on top and used the stick like a plunger, forcing the moss into the hole. Not in and out… just one firm push and it’s rock solid!  The moss is a little denser around the base, but I think I like it! I decided not to place anymore around the stem. Going to leave it as is… I can always add more later!

Have I mentioned how much I love fall?  …and my miter saw?!

 

I’m so incredibly flattered and thankful that this post was featured at:

The Shabby Nest

Be sure to check out all the awesome link parties where I love to link up!

You may also like:

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

43 Comments »