Wednesday, October 24, 2012

My Halloween Pumpkin Project

Originally I saw this cute pumpkin on Pinterest and pinned it to my Halloween board.  Later, I was on the Better Homes & Gardens website and saw it again (http://www.bhg.com/halloween/pumpkin-decorating/pumpkin-decorating-ideas/).

However, this appears to be on a real pumpkin...and I really feel like if I'm going to put that much effort towards something, I need to invest a little into a craft pumpkin.

I didn't want to invest TOO much, though.  The craft pumpkins at Hobby Lobby were upwards of $35. Even at 40% off, that's a little much for me.

Luckily, I had seen a craft pumpkin at Target that was $12...so, yes, I went with the cheaper pumpkin! :)

My next set back was finding black buttons.  Where do you buy large quantities of single color, yet various sizes/styles of buttons?  I came up with nothing.

And then, I went to Mom...who I think has everything craftily necessary...and who also told me I could SPRAY PAINT the buttons black! Truly, she has several old tins full of buttons, all shapes, all sizes, all colors! SCORE!

This is how I crafted my Halloween pumpkin:

1.  Spray paint buttons black - I just used the $.96 spray paint from Wal-Mart.  I got the glossy paint, because I wanted my buttons to have a little shine.  Also...just to let you know...buttons are light...and tend to move around when you spray them.  I have no tips on keeping them still...but I thought you should know.

2.  Print out your letters and cut them out - I think my font size was 350 and I just used Times New Roman. I wanted the serifs on the "B"...so this worked for me. Also...a tip...print these on card stock if possible. I printed one "O" on cardstock accidently (because that's what Mom had left in her printer) but used regular paper for the "B"...the "O" was much easier to trace around...which brings me to:

3.  Position your letters on the pumpkin, using a small piece of scotch tape to keep them in place and trace around using a pencil.

4.  Using your buttons, fill in the letters using hot glue.**

5.  Paint the stem black and tie a pretty black ribbon around the stem.

And you are done! :)

My total cost in this project:

Pumpkin - $12
Buttons - Free
Spray Paint - $1
Black paint for stem - already had on hand
Ribbon - $2
Hot glue - already had on hand

That's a grand total of $15.

I couldn't be happier with the outcome! :)



Happy Halloween!


**OK - I wrote these instructions BEFORE I was actually finished...and I would NOT use hot glue again. You can, but it leaves strings of glue and, what's even worse, the hot glue oozes out of the button holes when you are pressing them on to the pumpkin.  SO...you can use hot glue...but I think a good strong craft glue would work better. :)

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