pumpkins: the non-messy way

Welcome October. It seems as though the rest of the year is already winding down, but maybe it's too early for me to jump to those conclusions. But we will certainly be on a roll when it comes to holidays, first Halloween, soon Thanksgiving and before we know it Christmas and New Years Eve, and all that those entail. This certainly is a great 3-month period of the year, so I wanted to possibly for the first time make an effort to decorate my apartment for some of the festivities.

When it comes to pumpkins, I'm usually not thaat interested. The gunk and the goo and the knives and the inevitable failure (in my case) which produces simply a mess of pumpkin with one big hole in the front....well, it's a hassle for me usually. But pumpkins are still a great choice for decorating Halloween style, so I love the idea of painting or decorating them—less mess and they are really cute!

This sample is pretty simple, but I just placed ribbons along some of the ridges of the pumpkin, using Tacky glue to keep it in place. I didn't have any buttons on hand, but I LOVE the look of gluing these all over as well. I saw a really cute one in my neighbor's apartment, but didn't get the chance to snap a sneaky picture! :P Try different patterns together and give that pumpkin some personality! (P.S. I also love this example at All You of using buttons for little pumpkin faces!)

For painting the pumpkin, well I am a HUGE fan of acrylic paints so that was of course my paint of choice. The one issue: the paint does come off pretty easily. It's a good idea to do a few coats, or to actually paint the pumpkin with a sealer to hold the paint better. I opted for a black pumpkin and red stem. (Those stems are prickly!!) But I didn't want the pumpkin to look TOO seriously scary, so I painted stars, squiggles, and dots all over it. Then I added a fun ribbon bunch over the stem. This all definitely helped balance out the moods—tons of fun with just the right touch of midnight suspense. (And no, the picture doesn't give it justice.)

This is another really simple touch I put together. I purchased one of the plastic black, cauldron bowls from the dollar store. I filled it with cotton balls to give a boiling, steaming effect and dropped a selection of candy in the middle. Simple, but still fun. Then I tied a white ribbon around the outside.

Holidays give an extra reason to be creative, plus you get to display your projects pretty prominently around the house. I'm learning that it doesn't take much effort to splash even a little holiday festivity in your living space. Now I just need more ideas!!

-KK