Thursday, November 1, 2012

Pumpkin Forest

From branches forest to pumpkin forest!

I got so excited (SO. excited. !!!) about all the craft ideas I saw for Halloween, and went a little crazy Pinning decorative pumpkin ideas to my Pinterest page.

So, of course, I went around town scouring deals (did you know Michael's tries to sell them regular price for $24?! HA!...no thanks.) on all sizes of decorative pumpkins, and set up shop.
I found mine at Walmart, Michael's with a 40% off coupon, the Dollar Tree, and then later Michael's had the little guys 60% off, so I grabbed a few more.
I love decorating fake pumpkins so I can store them and re-use year after year.



These little guys I brought back out of hiding from last year, and am still loving.





Here is a run down of ALL the ideas I tried out!

Basically Lauren Conrad and I had all the same ideas from Pinterest, per her blog post ;)

Crayon wax dripping
Source: The Swede Records


I bought crayons in coordinating colors I liked, peeled off the wrappers, and used a long handled lighter to melt and drip the wax on the top and down the sides.



Tack Monogram
Source: All in a Day


This pumpkin was already a deep metallic orange, so I decided not to paint it.
I just mapped out where I wanted my monogram to be and stuck in the thumb tacks. Easy Peasy!
The linked blog uses a printed out template...you should probably do that, but I just winged it.
I added a bit of ribbon at the stem, too!



Burlap
Oh, burlap, I am obsessed with you lately.
I bought this wide roll to make a table runner, and used a strip of it around a pumpkin I had done half metallic, half natural orange.




Metallic
                                         This one I cheated, and just used a metallic silver spray paint.
Next year I want to actually buy this faux mercury glass spray paint and make ones that look more like these overpriced  Pottery Barn pumpkins. I've seen this paint used on vases and candle holders, too. That would look really cool.

                                              


Yarn Wrapped



Two Shades of Pink has a great tutorial for several different methods of these adorable yarn wrapped pumpkins.
I chose a multi colored strand yarn and went to town, wrapping and gluing.
A few dozen hot glue burns later, and voila!



Twine Wrapped
Same idea as the yarn wrapped...



Black and White



Source: Radio Butlers

Since I already had the monogram made in thumb tacks, I just decided to paint a big peace sign instead of a letter, while still keeping with the black and while theme. I painted this (off white) pumpkin bright white, and added the design in a black paint.


The other side of the pumpkin is painted with black chalkboard paint! I like this idea, too!
Source: Home Made Simple


I had to cut myself off, but I'd love to try these other ideas next year :)

Gem, stud, and rhinestone pumpkins, oh my!!


 


Source: Unknown from Pinterest and Small Shop Studio


This Ombre pumpkin from Funky Time is to die for!!



Better Homes and Gardens shows a cool idea of using printed lace to wrap a pumpkin. I saw somewhere on Pinterest you could also use lace pantyhose or tights for this!




Vitamini Handmade created a fabulous zebra print pumpkin. This looks like it'd take a bit of patience.



I am pretty excited about all my little pumpkins. We can officially say my house is decorated for Halloween!
Which ideas have you tried?





Happy Halloween!
So There.