Pumpkin Decorating, No Carving Required

If you have children running around all over the house while you are intending to carve a pumpkin, I would advise you to rethink your decision. After all, you will need to use many sharp tools to carve into the pumpkin and these tools can potentially do a lot of harm. You may love pumpkin carving but your ultimate goal is to keep your children safe. And if you cannot keep them away from your working area and its sharp tools while you are carving the pumpkin, do not do it.

Oh, please stop looking so sad. Halloween is not ruined because there is still a lot you can do with your pumpkin and include your children in a project that cannot and will not pose any potential dangers. You can decorate a pumpkin without carving it. How? That is what I am here for, to tell you how to decorate a pumpkin without carving.

With a little imagination and creativity, the options are limitless. I will give you just a few ideas and leave the rest up to you:

1. Dare to be different by creating a junk-o’-lantern instead of a jack-o’-lantern by digging up stuff from your junk drawer or collect small pieces of hardware from your garage.

• With a little thought you will be amazed how easy it is to make scary, funny or goofy faces by nailing wing nuts, garden fencing, rubber feet, window latches, curtain ties, drawer pulls, tacks, hinges, springs, and anything else you may find into the pumpkin. You can make an entire family of junk-o’-lanterns.
• By using corn planters for the wheels, a soap dish for the driver’s seat, a drawer pull for the door and a sink drain for the window you can turn your pumpkin into Cinderella’s Coach. The mice are mini pumpkins with noses made of upholstery-tacks, wire whiskers and the feet are nails.

2. Paint your pumpkin with several layers of white latex paint and let dry between each layer. Use a fine brush and black acrylic paint to freehand-paint or stencil a delicate simple design around the middle of the pumpkin. Place on a pedestaled dish and use as a beautiful centerpiece.

3. How about creating a carnival pumpkin by using brightly colored acrylic enamel paint?

Wash and dry your pumpkin and cover your work area with plenty of newspapers. Paint a wide zigzag stripe around the middle of the pumpkin. Paint multicolored stripes from the bottom of the zigzag to the bottom of the pumpkin. Use a flat brush to paint small multicolored squares on the top half of the pumpkin and let it dry. Add multicolored dots on the zigzag with your fingers. It cannot get much livelier than that.

4. Dress your pumpkin in beads and bows.

Use any kind of beads you have around the house and, of course, you can mix and match to your heart’s desire. Loop the beads from the base of the stem to half way down the pumpkin’s body and bring it up again to the base of the stem. Repeat until you are done with all your beads. Take a large ribbon and tie it to the stem. If you have quilting pins you can pin them in a row from top to bottom or you can use buttons and pin then with pushpins in the same fashion. You have just created an elegant pumpkin. Congratulations for a work well done.

5. Do you want to create a cat out of your pumpkin? No problem.

Paint the pumpkin in any color you desire, let it dry and turn it on its side. The stem of your pumpkin will serve as the tail while the bottom of the pumpkin will be where you will pain the eyes, nose, mouth and whiskers. Cut triangles out of brightly colored cardstock paper and pin them on for ears.
Meow!

You have to admit that to decorate a pumpkin without carving is easier and cleaner and the results are marvelous.

Posted in Pumpkin Stencils