Black, White and Gold Pumpkins

Black, White and Gold Pumpkins

Materials Needed:
Black, White and Gold Spray Paint ($$)
300 Pumpkins (Why not, the paint was costly)
Light Wire
Sharpie (for it’s tube shape)
Glitters
Glue
Craft Paint
Small Tip Brush

Version 2 (You could hand paint them :)
Pumpkins
Craft Paint

Wash and dry all of your pumpkins. Make sure they are really dry. Now we can create those cute little wire curlee cues. Take a loosely measured yard of wire and bend in half. I cut a tiny notch on a ridge of the stem to catch the loop end of the wire. This allowed me to wrap the wire tightly around the pumpkin stem about 3 or 4 times. Remember the wire is doubled up, so it looks like you wrapped it more. Separate the two pieces and take out the sharpie. Get comfortable, you might want to hold the pumpkin in your lap. Hold one wire at the base where it becomes free from the stem wrapping. Wrap the wire like a spring around the sharpie. Slide out the sharpie and do the same to the other wire. Stretch them a bit to get the look you like. They’ll be painted along with its pumpkin.


Set up a paint station outside. For me it was the ground. I used an old tree stand and ugly wide mouth vase to hold the pumpkins while spraying and drying. Start spraying the bottoms first, let dry well before giving them the flip. Black will cover nicely and white goes on great! But as for the gold pumpkins, you’ll need to base coat them first with white. Gold paint is too expensive to do several coats. You should find that you’ll only need one gold coat if you made a base coat.



Spray paints are quite an investment for just hobbying around. But using them smartly will enable you to work with many more projects down the road. While your spending - consider a clear coat spray as well. These four paints will complement your craft collection immensely.





After the pumpkins dry...they are simply beautiful! You could stop working on them now and decorate your porch or you may choose to glitter some too. So far this craft could be done with supervised school-aged kids, but now we come to the part that the littlest ones can enjoy too. Glittering! This cute and bright crazy color glitter pumpkin can be done by anyone. Or you could write and draw. I found this to be easier when I first painted my design in craft paint. Choose craft paint color that will work as a backing color to the glitter (this will help the glitter look brighter). And now you’ve got some beautiful pumpkins to display and delight your neighborhood.

 This one is "version 2" my then three year old grandson, Jake, did this in the back yard.

Thanks for the visit!






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Black Cat Pencil Toppers

BLACK CAT PENCIL TOPPERS

Items Used:
Black Cat Pattern (click here for PDF)
Black Pipe Cleaners
Pencils
White Glue
Black Glitter (I used Marcasite)
Detail Scissors
Paint Brush
Sharpie Marker
Optional Spray Adhesive


I recently saw these cute cats at the Better Homes and Gardens website. I re-created a template that turns out to be easier than theirs, and you may use it. Check above for PDF. Print out on cardstock and you’ll be ready to go! (WHOOPS! so sorry this file has disappeared from the earth.)

Cut out 2 cats for each pencil. After you make the cut out, take your marker to the white side (wrong side) and color around the edges and cut sides. This will fill in any slight differences in the two pieces. Take the marker and fill any white spots on the front of the cat too.





Take 1 cat body (working on the inside white area) and paint glue fully on the head and neck. Stop at the shoulders and run a fine bead of glue them, please check the picture guide. Take the second cat body and place and match together the white sides. You are trying to create a pocket in the main cat body for the tail and pencil.





Glitter time. If you intend to use spray adhesive, you’ll glue the eyes on after glittering. White glue folks may glue the eyes on first, use a paint brush and neatly surround the eyes with glue, and then do the overall black glitter. (check the bottom feet area of the cat-I almost glued them shut during glittering.)





Let dry. Play with you black pipe cleaner pussycat tail. Twist and spiral to your liking. Put glue on the end of the tail (about an half inch) and place into the cat body cavity. Follow with a lightly glued pencil. Let dry and enjoy!

Pumpkin Globe

Pumpkin Globe Votive (new word for kids: Decoupage)


Items Needed:
A Glass Container (almost anything glass)
White Glue
Paint Brush
Orange Tissue Paper (and a little yellow if its handy)
Black Crepe Paper Roll
Votive Candle


While shopping the other day at my favorite dollar store (The Dollar Tree) I saw some new pieces in the glass aisle, an 7 inch globe. Big enough for a fighting fish. And this new craft idea flew into my head. I’d just left the wrapping paper area and I remembered the Halloween crepe and tissue papers. And suddenly a could “see” jars and bowls and votive glasses and drinking glasses covered in torn tissue with cute black crepe Halloween faces on them.

To start, gather your materials. I took a half page of orange tissue page and ripped it up in squares (kinda) from 1 inch to most about 2 inches big. I grabbed a little bit of yellow into the mix too. The glass container is a great place to store the torn tissue. I used the glue straight from the bottle and painted some patches on the jar (randomly spread spots). These first patches are meant for the yellow squares (if you are using any yellow). At this point I took the first photo of the project. I continued to decoupage with orange on 1 side of the bowl. I am aiming for one layer depth with overlapping for the best effects of dark and light filtering through. It’s fine to be sloppy with the glue, it dries clear and is very forgiving. My side was dry when Jachob began to work on his side. He examined my previous work and just took off with painting and patching. A folded towel beneath his work area keep the glass from moving about. (Don’t take your eyes off a young kid for a moment, glass and fingers and a tile floor do not mix) We tried to be neat where it counts, and that would be the top and bottom. I kept the bottom clear of any glue so that it would sit well and be stable for the candle, and a candle would emphasize a raggy edge around the lip.








The face is cut from black streamer. I took a long length (who measures a streamer?) and made sure I ‘d folded for six layers. I want the face to be dark when lit up. Then I freehand cut the triangles. And now we have two layers for each eye and nose. With the mouth, I took a random length and sight measured where the smile would lie and how large it should be to complement the face. (I did this thinking on the eyes too, but just now realized it) My smile turns out to be about 5 inches, so I’ll need a foot of crepe. Fold in half and again. Where the fold is—is the largest part of the smile with the open end as the points. Just like cutting snowflakes, cut a nice half of a quarter moon from the whole folded piece. Open it up to the two layers the smile has become, and check if you like the shape. Crepe paper is cheap! If it’s what you like, then fold once and on the fold at bottom of the smile cut a half tooth out. Still folded, on the top cut a whole tooth about an inch in from the fold. Open and you have a cute double layer Pumpkin smile. Better yet!....make the face anyway you want, have fun. There’s a picture showing how wet and sloppy the item looks while drying. Either almost dry or completely, a light coat of glue re-applied over the whole globe gives it nice finished appearance. I lit my little craft on my front porch and I’m very pleased with my new Halloween votive. And best of all Jake was happy.

Pencil Toppers

Pencil Toppers
(a simple “see & make project”)


Pencils
White Glue
Pipe Cleaners
and stuffola from all over the house and yard.


This is a no-cost project, it’s a goal. My husband loves no cost projects. I’m sure you over the top crafters like me know what I am saying here…

I ransacked my junk. I found a charm from Christmas time and a crocheted snowflake. I plucked the feathers from a ladies toy fan, located some pony beads and googlie eyes and ribbon and found some new and old pencils. Everything I made was simply whipped up from my imagination. And that’s a goal I’d like your older child to try and accomplice. Abstract thinking is a great exercise for the brain. Here we create something cool from loose objects. My niece Holly created a quick pencil after I emailed this craft to my sister Kemi (she’s the one who does the web work) Please enjoy and also send us a photo of your child’s creation. It’s a great idea to keep kids busy on a sleepover night or party, and they make great gifts for friends and family.