Pumpkin-Palooza 2

I have to begin by apologizing for posting so little lately. I've been busy with chores and guests, and migraines still hijack my life more often that I'd like; but I'm back today with Pumpkin-Palooza 2. As I was editing my pumpkin photos, I realized that I have far too many photos to condense into just 2 installments in this series. I think it will be 4 instead, so let's get started.

The plan for many of my pumpkin projects this year was to use different patterns and textures than I used last year. In Pumpkin-Palooza 1, I showed you a TP pumpkin made with a houndstooth fat quarter and another pumpkin made with rope. You can see those here. I'm going to begin today with one more TP pumpkin project. You should all be familiar enough with these by now that I don't have to go into a complete tutorial. Since we live in the far northwoods of Michigan's U.P. and my husband has a love of camo, I decided to do a super quick camo pumpkin.

I knew my hubby had a camo bandana/handkerchief that would be perfect for this project, so I rifled through his drawer and borrowed it. (I don't think he knows it's missing yet!) I repeated my standard process for a TP pumpkin. I wrapped 2 old dish towels (folded the long way) around a new roll of TP to fatten it up a bit. Then, I placed the roll on the center of the camo bandana and pulled up the 4 corners - tucking the ends into the top of tube. I then cut 3 lengths of rope, wrapped those around the pumpkin, and tucked the ends into the top of the tube. Lastly, I cut a longer length of rope - twisted it and doubled it a few times - and stuck that into the top of the tube for a stem.

This was a super quick and easy way to get a little touch of camo into our fall decor. The pumpkin will be deconstructed at the end of the season, and my hubby will get his camo bandana back. Ha!

Next up is a jazzed-up Dollar Tree pumpkin. I was roaming around the store recently and had tossed a few plastic pumpkins into my basket when I noticed a witch's broom. We don't celebrate Halloween, but I thought the orange metallic pompom (originally pompon) at the end of the broom could make an interesting pumpkin.

The first thing I did was pull the plastic stem out of the pumpkin, and I cut the cardboard broom handle to a shorter length for the pumpkin's new stem.

I tied a length of twine around the cardboard stem to secure it. . .

and covered it completely by wrapping it in the twine. I also shoved some twine into the open end of the tube at the top.

I then inverted the pompom (so the top of the stem was now underneath in the middle of the pompom) and used hot glue to attach the underside of the stem to the top of the pumpkin.

After the stem was secure, I turned the pumpkin right-side-up. The pompom strands were now hanging over and around the plastic pumpkin and the stem was on top. I took another piece of twine and tied it around the pompom strands at the bottom of the pumpkin.

I trimmed the strands just below the knot, turned the pumpkin right-side-up again, and used my fingers to reposition some of the strands to make sure the pompom strands completely covered the plastic pumpkin inside.

If you decide to repeat this simple project, I would suggest you begin with a small orange pumpkin instead; as some of the green on my pumpkin tries to peak through when I move it around.

This was a simple project, but I often do even less to those inexpensive pumpkins to make them a little more unique. For example, I purchased the next pumpkin at Walmart and just wrapped a little twine around the stem.

I left the stem alone on this copper pumpkin from Dollar Tree, but I used hot glue to attach 2 artificial leaves.

Lastly, here's an example of a pumpkin I purchased at Michael's with the intention of adding something to it. After playing around with a few different ideas, I decided I liked it better the way it was.

It's a simple pumpkin, but the texture is unexpected so it makes enough of a statement on its own.

This Pumpkin-Palooza series will continue soon with projects using yarn, a washcloth, and even a sock.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Also shared at:

Share Your Cup #219