Welcome to October’s DIY Challenge.  If you are coming here, from  Corine’s Junk to Gems, I’m so happy that you are here! This month Terrie of Decorate and More With Tip asked us to give all of you lots of pumpkin inspiration. So that’s just what we did! Today I’m sharing  how to make a Faux Sweater Pumpkin.

I’m sure all of you have seen those gorgeous  sweater covered pumpkins.

So pretty.

All you have to do is cut up an old sweater and cover the pumpkin.

But what if you don’t have an old sweater?

Well, you create a pumpkin out of yarn!

Here is how you turn a plain little Dollar tree pumpkin into a beautiful faux sweater pumpkin.

Step 1:

Remove the pumpkin stem.

Which is super easy as it is only attached with a toothpick.

Step 2:

Cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin.

Step 3:

Paint the Pumpkin.

I recommend painting the pumpkin a color close to the yarn you will be using.

Your yarn will leave “holes” where the pumpkins color can peek through.

Step 4:

Braid the yarn.

I started off by cutting 9 – 26′ pieces of yarn for each braid.

Gather the 9 strands at the top and tie them off.

Then divide the 9 strands into 3 groups.

Keeping the yarn flat braid the 3 groups together.

Tie off the bottom of the braid just like you did the top.

You will need approximately 10 – 12 braids per pumpkin, depending upon the yarn you use.

Step 5:

Apply the braids to the the pumpkin.

Put one end of the braid into the hole of the pumpkin, then wrap around the pumpkin and place the tail of the braid into the hole.

Keep doing this until the pumpkin is completely covered in braids.

Step 6:

Give the pumpkin a stem.

Add a wine cork or tree branch to the top of the pumpkin.

Just stick it into the hole, the braids will hold the stem in place.

Step 7:

Add leaves to the pumpkin.

I chose to add these felt leaves, but really any leaf would do.

To attach them I cut out the felt, gathered the end and hot glued it to a piece of wire.

Once dry, I stuck the wire into the pumpkin hole.

As with the stem, the braids will hold the leaves in place.

I made a couple of the faux sweater pumpkins.

One with a variegated yarn and another with a chenille yarn.

Both are cute, but the variegated is my favorite!

It really does look like a cable knit sweater.

I’m a big fan of the faux sweater pumpkin.

No more looking for sweaters to cut up and it’s fun and easy to make!

Now, I hope that you will join me and visit Carol at Bluesky at Home.

I can’t wait to see what pumpkin inspo she’s cooked up!

                                                    Remember, If you love it, be sure to Pin it!

Painting Fall pumpkins is one of my favorite things to do.

Every year I find something new to paint on my pumpkins whether they are real, faux, wooden, plastic, canvas or styrofoam.

Really, with pumpkins, the possibilities are endless!

A few years ago I shared how to paint a pumpkin, if you missed it you can see how to here.

I recently found the perfect blank wooden pumpkin for a front door hanger at Hobby Lobby.

I couldn’t wait to get started painting!

Step 1 was to remove the twine loop at the top and give the pumpkin a light sanding.

I won’t bore you with the painting details, I’ll just give you the highlights.

If you want to see how to paint them in detail, hit up the link I shared earlier!

Starting on my left, I paint in the shape of a “C”.

I continue each “C” until I hit the middle section, where I paint an oval shape.

Then on my right side I work my way to the middle painting reversed “C”s.

This creates the indentations on the pumpkin.

 TIP:

When painting my pumpkins I rarely clean out the brush.  For this pumpkin I used a dark turquoise, turquoise and white.

By not cleaning my brush it creates many different colors of the turquoise which gives it depth.

Once my turquoise was painted, I added some white and orange highlights.

Then, it was time to paint my stem.

Again, I used a dark brown, medium brown and white.

There are several ways to add the word “welcome” to my door hanger.

I could have used vinyl, however I didn’t have any permanent vinyl on hand so I decided to paint it on.

So, I did what I did in grade school when I wanted to transfer a design.

I drew the word welcome, then flipped the paper over and ran a pencil over the back of the paper where the word was written.

Once that was done, I flipped the paper back over and placed it where I wanted the word to be on my pumpkin.

Then, using a stylus, I traced the word.

After that it was just a matter of painting between the lines!

Once my paint dried, I reattached the twine and added a few burlap leaves.

At this point, the only thing that my pumpkin needed to be finished was a colorful bow!

My door hanger was ready to be hung.

Of course, I couldn’t just paint one!

I painted these smaller pumpkins using the same technique, only this time I painted on leaves and on the smaller one a fun leopard design.

Painting Fall pumpkins couldn’t be easier or more fun!

Until next time….

                                                           Remember, If you love it, be sure to PIN it!