Hey!

Have you ever had the feeling where you are just burned out with what you are working on, but still want to create something? The past few days I have been feeling creative and burned out simultaneously. I have been cranking out paintings like no other and it has been exhilarating to know how much work I am producing. Sometimes though, I want to put the ten dollar brush down and pick up a good ol cheap brush and see what I can create or what kind of mess I am able to make. When I get in these moods, it is hit or miss. Sometimes my creation will be a hot mess, or I will create something like these cute pumpkins.

Today I am going to take you through the process and materials I used to create a cute craft wood pumpkin for the fall season. It was a lot of fun, super easy and they didn’t take me very long to create once I scrambled through my studio to see what I was actually going to make.

The previous evening, I was feeling restless and I began watching YouTube videos on holiday crafts. Now, I didn’t follow one video to make these pumpkins but, I watched nearly 3 hours of videos! I’m sure you can relate when it comes to getting sucked into the digital wormhole. After calling it a night around 2am, I woke up and felt eager to start crafting! This is where my inspiration came from.

Over the years, I have collected (some would say hoarded) art supplies from craft, thrift, dollar stores, and many other places. I KNEW that I would use it SOMEDAY! Well, here is that day! It only took 4 years to use a piece of the ribbon, and 5 years for the pipe cleaner, haha!

Anyway, here is the process on how I created some cute pumpkin wall decor.

Beginning with 6”x6” craft pine wood by ArtMinds I sanded the edges to make sooth rounded edge.

I slightly watering down the acrylic paint, and I applied it with a sponge brush in vertical motions along with the grain. I’m using the colors Cadmium Orange Hue, Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue, and Old Gold. While allowing the paint to dry, I took a small sheet of aluminum foil to create a form for the stem. This can be any size you would like to make your stem. Crinkling the foil while rolling it in my hands, condensed the foil into a long shape. Mine was a little thin, so I just folded it over on itself to double the width.

I’m not sure where I got this ribbon, but any wide ribbon will do. Simply hot glue the ribbon from the top of the stem and wrap all of the way around the foil until it is completely covered. The bottom doesn’t have to be pretty, because it will be glued onto the back. Using a fine grade sand paper I lightly sanded the edges of the paint to give it more texture and character. I then sprayed a coating of clear spray to protect the paint. Pipe cleaners are a perfect way to add the spiral vine effect! Take a pipe cleaner and wrap it around a marker and viola! Now for the bow! This is a great “no sew” way to making bows. Cut a piece of ribbon, fold in half to find the center, then glue each end to the middle. Now you need to fold in the middle so it can be pinched together and glue together. Cut a smaller piece of ribbon (can be a different color) and wrap around the middle of the bow. Simple as that to make a quick bow.

I just cut two small strips for the tails and glued them to the back.

Tip: After cutting the ribbon, I take a lighter to the ends of the ribbon to make sure it doesn’t come apart. This melts the ends together.

Now all you have to do is glue it all together. I took a small leftover piece of pipe cleaner and glued it to the back to create the hanger.

Materials Used:

I hope this was inspiring and it sparks your creativity to make some art! If you decided to try and create something like this, feel free to comment and post your creation over on our Facebook group page! We would love to have you there and see what you create! Join our private group here (insert link)

Have a wonderful day!

Kortney Beth

LIFE IS ART, START CREATING!

Having fun with Crafts – Pumpkins

Materials Used:

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