I have never been much for carving pumpkins, mostly because I can’t draw with a pen and pencil, much less a knife. So I came up with a project this year that would allow me to decorate a pumpkin – no drawing required!
Check out the tutorial below to make your own Black Cat Halloween Pumpkin:
Materials:
1 pumpkin any size (I used a small pie pumpkin)
DecorArt Glamour Dust Ice Crystal Ultra Fine Glitter Paint
Mod Podge
foam paintbrushes
black ribbon
black cat clip art
hot glue gun
craft knife (optional)
Step One:
After picking out your pumpkin, make sure it is dry and free of any dirt or debris.
Step Two:
This is the fun part – painting the pumpkin!
Brush the silver paint over the surface of the pumpkin. Use as many coats as needed, but be sure to let each coat dry completely before adding an additional coat.
Note – I used acrylic paint because that’s what I had on hand. This works fine for pumpkins that are going to rot eventually anyway, but if you are doing this on a fake pumpkin that you plan on saving you may want to use something like spray paint. Acrylic paint is water-based and can come off easily on some surfaces.
Step Three:
Once you have covered your pumpkin in the metallic silver and it has had time to dry, start brushing on the DecorArt Glamour Dust paint. I purchased this from Hobby Lobby, but I am sure you can find similar products at almost any craft store.
This dries clear, leaving behind a subtle sparkle. The more layers you apply, the more you’ll notice the glitter. Again, make sure each layer is completely dry before applying additional layers.
Step Four:
While the paint is drying, pick out some clip art of a black cat and print it off. The image I used would have been impossible to cut out with scissors so I used a craft knife.
Tip – If you have any unwanted white areas left around the cat that can’t be cut away, just use a black sharpie around the edges. This works great! I used colored sharpies to fill in the eyes and nose.
Step Five:
Once the paint is completely dry, brush some mod podge on the back of your image and carefully place it on the pumpkin, smoothing out any wrinkles.
Next, carefully brush over your image with the mod podge, taking care not to tear the paper.
At this point you can either wait for the mod podge to dry or use a hair dryer or heat gun to speed up the process. I used an embossing gun and it worked beautifully.
Step Six:
Once everything on your pumpkin is dry, cut out a piece of ribbon, just long enough to go around the base of the pumpkin stem once.
Take your hot glue gun and glue this piece of ribbon around the stem a little at a time until the two ends of your ribbon meet.
Note – This just looks smoother than simply tying a ribbon around the stem. It eliminates wrinkles and ensures that your bow will stay straight and in place.
Step Seven:
Cut out another piece of ribbon long enough to make a bow.
Once you have the bow the size and shape you want it, glue it to the piece of ribbon you just placed around the pumpkin’s stem.
Tip – Place the bow where the ends of that short piece of ribbon meet around the stem.
Step Eight:
Brush a little Glamour Dust paint on the ribbon to give it some sparkle too!
Voila! You’re done! Easy peasy!!