Rainbow Rhinestone Pumpkin DIY

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Forget the orange and black pumpkin decor this year and really do it up BIG!  Cause nothin’ says BIG like unloading a freakin’ rainbow of color onto a mini pumpkin.  I’m kinda obsessed with this little DIY cause it combines both sparkle and color together for an absolute feast for the eyes.  And this is something you can make in just under and hour.  Let me show you how it is done!

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What you need (links below include affiliate links)
— Mini pumpkin
Paint in a rainbow of colors
Mini rhinestones (with adhesive backing)
Paintbrush and paint palette

I have to admit something before I begin telling you how to make this pumpkin……it is so insanely easy to make.  The majority of the work involves painting on the paint and letting it dry.  I went around the pumpkin, separating the colored sections by the ribs.  Go around the pumpkin once, then go around it again to get two solid coats.  Let dry thoroughly. Make sure to turn over and finish off the bottom (or don’t worry about it if the bottom isn’t going to show).
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Next, use the coordinating color rhinestone sticker and position in the coordinating color section.  This is literally a pull off and stick process, but you will want to make sure you space them in random polka dot style all around around your pumpkin.

And here’s the finished result. SWOON!!!!!!

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This is a super fun craft to make for your rainbow-obsessed friends to give as a fall gift for their office or home.

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If you aren’t a fan of rainbow, consider painting your pumpkin a solid color, then adding tone on tone rhinestone dots. You could also use a complementary color for fun contrast!

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I’d love it if you checked out my other rainbow pumpkin creations…

How to Make a Rainbow Glitter Pumpkin
Rainbow Crayon Drip Pumpkin
Crayon Scribble Pumpkin
Glitter Drip Pumpkin

How To Paint Your Own Pennywise Pumpkin

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This Halloween season, Pennywise, from the movie IT is the go-to movie to see.  I’m seeing all kinds of articles on how you can rock this clown custom for Halloween 2017, but I thought I’d turn Pennywise into my kinda craft- a pumpkin, of course.  Let me just tell you, taking the above pic was pretty amusing.  Instead of scouting for models, I went scouting for gutters in my neighborhood. LOL. I think the end result turned out pretty sweet.  And fun fact, I’ve never seen this movie or the original that all my friends were scared of when I was a child of the 90’s.  I do recognize a viral character when I see it, and knew I had to get on the clown action.

What you’ll need:

– White medium-sized pumpkin
– Red, black, and white acrylic paints
– Tacky Glue
– Paintbrushes
– Red feather marabou boa
– Scissors

Before you begin:  I painted the off-white pumpkin with white acrylic paint to give the clown a more pale complexion.

Next pull up a pic of Pennywise for reference…I did my project freehand, but you can plot yours out with pencil if you’d like.

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I then painted my pumpkin as shown below…I started with a liner brush drawing the red on the lips, I then went back in around the lips adding outlines and shading.  Around the grin, I added lines to accentuate.

Next I drew the red lines that go from the grin to above the eyes. After I did that, I added in more additional shading detail and started to draw the eyes and frown lines.

I finished up the face with additional shading and red eyes. For finishing touches, I added some chin and face shape definition. Also clean up any messy details with white paint after everything has dried. My last step was to mix a little glue and paint to make faux cracks and gritty details to the forehead and face. The final step is to cut, then glue on the feather boa to the top of the pumpkin in a horseshoe fashion.

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This turned out pretty fun (and creepy).  When I get into the zone painting, I realize how much I enjoy it.

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Taking photos of this pumpkin may have been more fun than actually painting it.  For this one, I hid the pumpkin in some bushes and peeked through to get this shot.  Nothin’ quite like a creepy clown lurking in the shadows.

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And I thought the dead grass and wooden fence at sunset made for a nice backdrop as well.

Let me know what you think of my pumpkin and if it creeps you out.  And fun fact, I actually like clowns…I grew up with paintings of them in my room  as a toddler.  They were mainly the hobo and circus clowns type.  I don’t know if I should watch this movie or not and change my perception.

If you love this project, share it with your friends, and check out this cute stop motion video I did using the steps above to create this DIY project.  I made this little vid for the Darby Smart app! If you want ot make your own DIY vids easily using only your phone, give this app a try. Available now in the app store.

 

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Pumpkin Video Fun with Crafty Chica

I recently got to visit the Youtube Space LA studios for my work iLoveToCreate!  We filmed several videos there on their Make Lab set that they had set up for part of August and almost all of September.

My friend Kathy a.k.a. The Crafty Chica asked me to come on and talk about my passion for all things pumpkin and of course I said yes!  Check out the video and hear some great tips for taking your Halloween pumpkins to the next level.  I also do a little “magic” in the video that you are not going to wanna miss 🙂

There’s another hilarious video I can’t wait to share with you that  I did with Kathy as well, so stay tuned for that one as well!  We had such a blast filming that day.

Please check out the videos I helped work on for iLoveToCreate as well featuring my friend Pattiewack. You can see them below!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

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Distressed Subway Art Pumpkin


Here’s a fun project I did a few weeks ago on my friend Jen of Tatertots and Jello blog and thought I would share it with you today!  It’s an homage to those vintage NYC subway signs. It’s pretty cool how something vintage-inspired can turn out so modern! Let’s get started!

For this project you’ll need:


– 1 large pumpkin (I picked up a faux one at Michaels)

– various medium to large sized scrapbook stickers (I got mine in the craft section at Michaels)
– large vinyl stickers
– black spray paint
– sandpaper
You’ll want to start off by peeling off your stickers and attaching them to your pumpkin in the subway art fashion, spacing the words a similar width across.  It doesn’t matter the color of these stickers as you will be spray painting over top of them. I actually found that several of them lost some of their stick, so I ran it through a Xyron sticker machine to make them sticker.  Also, if you have an electronic sticker die-cutting machine and want to give it a go, you can; however, I don’t know if the results will be the same.


Your letters should look something like this before you begin to spray paint. Make sure to firmly press them in place before spray painting.


Lay your pumpkin with the words face up and lightly mist the spray paint on top giving good, even coverage. This will help keep the spray paint from seeping under any of the stickers. Let dry a few minutes. Go back and give it a second coat if needed.


Now lay the pumpkin on it’s base and spray paint the back and sides thoroughly.


When the pumpkin is dry, carefully remove the letters.  I noticed that a few of my letters did get a little paint shadowing, but in the spirit of it looking distressed, it just added to the feel!


Now take a fine grit sandpaper and lightly rub around pumpkin, distressing it a bit. This will give it a battered/worn look. I even did it over the letters for an aged look.


And here’s a detail of the words up close. I think it turned out really cool!

You can mix and match up your words to suit you, you could make it more fall words or family words, whatever you like!
Until next time Swellions!
Alexa

Forged Foil Pumpkins

Want something sparkly and fun for Halloween, that will take you into the Thanksgiving season? Here’s a pretty and rustic way to add some flash to your pumpkins in just minutes and it’s using my fave craft supply…Tacky Glue! This is actually a classic Tacky Glue technique created by Aleene in the 50’s or 60’s. I got to use up some cute little candy wrappers that I bought at Sur La Table a while back. I was excited to have the perfect project to use them on! OK, let’s get started!


Supplies
– mini pumpkins
– foil squares (buy them in the candy aisle or use save your candy foil wrappers)
Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue
– black paint (I used Tulip® Fabric Spray Paint and it worked perfect!)
– foam brush


Instructions
1. Crinkle the little foil squares. Don’t roll it into a ball, just gently crinkle and reflatten out.


2. Generously apply Tacky Glue and glue to pumpkin. Cover entire pumpkin area except stem.


3. Give the pumpkin an aged look by applying a bit of paint (add paint to random areas all over of pumpkin)


4. Use a paper towel to rub off paint.

There you have it! Simple and pretty pumpkins in minutes.

It will make such a pretty mantel display or be the perfect fall accent for your table centerpiece!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

I linked up at the following parties!

Weekend Wrapup at TaterTots and Jello

6 Polka Dot Pumpkin Craft Ideas!

me and polka dot pumpkin

One of my favorite ways to decorate a pumpkin is to stick with a simple polka dot design. I personally believe you can never go wrong with polka dots or stripes! Here’s some fun ideas to get you inspired and mix up your polka dot pumpkin crafts this year!

1) Add a fancy monogram and swirls to mix up your pounced polka dot look with Half Full Martini!

2) Add glitter dots to your pumpkin with Better Homes and Gardens

3) A little spray paint and circle labels make this little faux pumpkin by Darling Doodles shine.

4) How cool are these tack and nail pumpkins from Jaimee Rose at AZCentral?

5) Use an apple corer and mallet to make these multicolor gourds from Midwest Living!

6) Leave the holes unplugged for this pretty luminary look by Eddie Ross.

So are you going to make a polka dot pumpkin this year?

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

27 Cool Halloween Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

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In my world, September 1st kicks off Halloween season, where I eat, drink and breathe everything Halloween! Since the season is upon us, I rounded up this great collection of pumpkin crafts for you to get inspired and try making yourself. Enjoy!

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1. Argyle Pumpkins from Sampler

2. Modern Pumpkin Lanterns from Making it Lovely

3. Glitter Pumpkins on Sticks from Tales from an OC Cottage

4. Black Gloss Pumpkin from Lowe’s Creative

5. Striped Pumpkins from All You

6. PacMan Pumpkin via Craziest Gadgets

7. Day of the Dead Pumpkin by Artfisch

8. Mod Pumpkin from Curbly

9. Sequin Pumpkin from the Rabens Family

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10. Wild Child Pink Zebra Pumpkin from iLoveToCreate

11. Fishnet Pumpkins from the Idea Attic

12. Pretty Painted Pumpkins from Alisa Burke

13. Candy Corn Pumpkins from BHG

14. Rosette Pumpkin from Etsy

15. Glow in the Dark Pumpkin from About.com

16. M&M Pumpkin from Williamette Valley

17. Rhinestone Pumpkins from Good Housekeeping

18. Fabric Decopauge Pumpkin from Dollheads

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19. Pumpkin Diorama with That Artist Woman

20. Bloody Pumpkins From the Swell Life

21. Oak Tree Pattern Pumpkin from Country Living

22. Hello Kitty Pumpkin by Azure Grove

23. Snooki Pumpkin from The Swell Life

24. Chalkboard Pumpkin from Real Simple

25. Skull inside Pumpkin from Skull a Day

26. Dripping Pumpkin from the Crafty Chica

27. Candy Corn Pumpkin from A Little Art Can’t Hurt

I had so much fun making this list!! Which one is your favorite?

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa