Halloween Pumpkin

Implements of destruction:

Wood pumpkin cutout (found at Michaels for .99 each)
Halloween-themed scrapbooking paper (for pumpkin and stem)
Raffia (green)
Googly-eyed spiders
Halloween embellishments
Black paint
Black marker
Disposable foam paintbrush (2)
Sandpaper
Craft knife
Mod Podge (I prefer the gloss)
Hot glue gun
Glue gun stick
Table protection (kitchen-sized plastic trashbag)


I started off lightly sanding the plain wood pumpkin cutout with some sandpaper. Just to knock off any rough edges and to smooth out both sides. Wipe off any excess sandpaper.

Next I completely painted the back side of the pumpkin, and around the eyes, nose, and mouth on the front side, and all exposed edges with the black paint.




I used the Mod Podge as a glue to adhere the scrapbooking paper to the front of the cutout for the pumpkin (don't worry about cutting out the openings just yet). I then applied a thin layer of Mod Podge to the back side, and let that dry overnight by placing the cutout (paper side down) on top of Painters Pyramids.




When everything was completely dry, I cut out the eyes, nose, mouth, and around the outside of the cutout from the back side with a very sharp craft knife (see below). If you notice the white streaks in the photo below, that's just the Mod Podge, and after a few days it will dry clear. I was somewhat heavy-handed with the Mod Podge, so you may want to put thinner layers of it down. (Good tip here: store used paintbrush in a baggie to keep it pliable for future applications).

Once I had all the openings cleaned out, I cut a free-form stem out of the scrapbooking paper and glued that to the stem on the cutout.

Being the perfectionist, I drew over all the edges with a black marker to clean things up. Make sure you open up the whole on the stem for hanging with your craft knife (it's easier to do that step now).

At this point, I applied a layer of Mod Podge to the front and sides of the cutout to seal and protect the scrapbooking paper, and let that dry overnight (elevate the cutout on the Painters Pyramids).

When all my cutouts were dry, the fun began. I tied some raffia into bows around each of the stems, and put a dab of hot glue behind each bow to hold it in place. I then hot glued some googly-eyed spiders here and there, and hot glued an embellishment onto each raffia bow. VOILA!!!

Here's the set I made on the stairway wall.....