Dryer Vent Pumpkins!

My BFF was in town this weekend and you know when she's around there's going to be some crafting going on!  She brought this totally fabulous project with her, courtesy of some of her crafty relatives (I just wanna make sure I am giving credit where credit is due here!) and we went to work making a peck of our own!

Yes, that's the burlap candy corn bunting Sheep and I made a couple of years ago.  If you're interested, you can get all the details here, but let's get back to pumpkins, shall we?

Here's what you will need:
Dryer vent
Wire cutters
Scissors
Glue gun and/or flexible wire
Stems
Spray paint
BLING!

Dryer vents come in different sizes, but the standard vent will make approximately 7 medium pumpkins.  Our medium pumpkins measure about 9" in diameter.  We cut our dryer vents every 32 rings, using scissors to slice through the aluminum and wire cutters to snip the wire form.  They are very Slinky-esque, so just imagine cutting a Slinky every so often and you've got the idea.

I wired some together, threading a fine gauge wire through a large needle (needs to have a large eye) and just whip stitching it closed around the wires on both ends.  My BFF preferred the glue gun method, and although I think it might have burned her fingerprints off, it did seem to go faster, so I switched to glue too.  But take your pick, it will work either way.

Once your glue is dry, they are ready to paint!  We started with a can of bright orange and a can of harvest orange, but we quickly decided to raid the paint shelf and did some other fun colors as well!  The bright orange seems more Halloween-y to me while the fall orange seems like it would work well all the way through to Christmas, but having both is even better!

I started out pretty simple on my decorations, and tried to stick to decorations that I already had in my craft room - but we both knew it wouldn't last!

What can I say?  I am a chronic over-embellisher!
But aren't they adorable?!?!
I am sooo happy with how they turned out!

Most of the bright orange I decided looked best with Halloween decorations.  By this time, my BFF was getting upset with her pumpkin decorating skills and it was threatening to start raining again,so she decided to leave me to it and go paint the rest in hopes that we could make a little moo-lah for the holidays!

Simple or deluxe, I think they look great!  And I must say they are even cuter in person!

And I am working on more this afternoon!  Leave me a note and tell me which one is your favorite. I'd love to hear from you!

Sharing this sassy project at some or all of these great parties: Under the Table and Dreaming, Totally Overflowing with Creativity, Three Mango Seeds, Classy Cutter, Serenity You, House of Hepworth, Skip to my Lou, LadyBug Blessings, Nap Time Creations, The Style Sisters, Polkadots on Pararde, Rae Gun Ramblings,Costal Charm, Not Just a Housewife, Domestically Speaking, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Sumos Sweet Stuff, The Gunny Sack, Gingersnap Crafts, Southern Lovely, Lil Luna, Someday Crafts, The NY Melrose Family, The DIY Dreamer, The Blackberry Vine, Homeworks, The Rustic Pig, Cornerstone Confessions, Kathe with an E, House on the Way, PJH Desgin, Glued to my Crafts, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Seven Alive, Made in a Day, Live Laugh and Love, A Creative Place, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson, Home and Gardens, It Happens In a Blink, I Gotta Create, Domestic Super Hero, All Pretty Things, Katie's Nesting Spot, 52 Mantels, Truly Lovely, Twinkle in the Eye, Happy Hour Projects, Six Sisters Stuff, Tutus and Tea Parties, Mop It Up Monday, Saturday Show and Tell, Moonlight and Mason Jars, The Scoop, Wow Us Wednesdays, Take-A-Look Tuesday

If you enjoyed this pumpkin decorating idea, check out these other great Halloween idea posts!
 

Pumpkin Primpin'

Meet Mumpkin!

Our Annual Pumpkin Primp!

Well, it was a fun (but hectic) weekend, and the weather was just PERFECT here, which only added to the enjoyment. 

Prayers though for all my friends and family living in hurricane Sandy's path, who have a lot more on their minds than Halloween tonight. {Hugs.}  I hope the rest of you were able to get out and soak up some Fall too!

One thing that didn't get scratched off our annual Halloween bucket list over the weekend was painting our pumpkins!  As I've mentioned before, we steer clear of carving around here . . . so painting it is!  Besides, my kids love anything that involves getting messy and is mom-sanctioned too!

I really do love to watch my budding Picasso's at work.  So much so that we've actually hosted a pumpkin painting party every year, sometimes for friends and more recently for classmates.  I've always loved Halloween.  And most moms are more than happy to let their little Picasso paint a pumpkin at someone else's house.  Last year we had about 15 (!!) first graders painting pumpkins on the porch.  I'm crazy - I know!!

Anyway . . . we've had our pumpkins for a couple of weeks already, but haven't managed to find one night to even have neighbors over for an impromptu pumpkin primp.  So with Halloween only 2 days away, it was time to just 'get 'er done!'

Snacks knew just what to do and within minutes had his first masterpiece ready to display!

We use tempera paint our pumpkins, which makes for easy clean-up - though I suggest investing in one of those plastic-backed tablecloths from the dollar store for this project, especially with little ones!  I also put them in paint smocks to protect their clothes.  These were actually party favors from Sheep's birthday.

I have several old muffin tins that I keep handy for paint projects and they work great for keeping the colors separated!  They are also easy to clean afterwards!

The best part of using tempera paint is that if you make a mistake (Who, me?!) you can simply 'erase' it with a damp paper towel and start again. {Smile}

CAUTION:  That also means these designs are not waterproof so they will not last in the rain, unless you spray them with a sealant afterwards.  Otherwise, just make sure that stay on the covered part of your porch!

It was a lot of fun painting this year with just myself and the kids - I was able to actually join in on the fun too!  Sheep and I decided to make angry bird pumpkins (Thanks for the inspiration Rachel!) and then I decided to make a monogrammed pumpkin to greet our guests on Wednesday night!

Cute, huh?!

 

I had everyone (available) add a thumbprint and then I added their names in small lettering.

I did say no to the idea of adding the puppies' paw prints as well.  Even I have my limits - ha!

They all look wonderful at the front door.

 

And the kids (and I) are mighty proud of them too!

 

Making memories is what the holidays are all about and I am so thankful to have taken this afternoon to do just that.

Happy Halloween Y'all!

 

Sharing this sassy idea at Mop it Up Mondays, Meet Me Monday, Debbie Doo's Newbie Party, Take-A-Look Tuesday, Wow Us Wednesdays, Cowgirl Up, Whimsy Wednesdays, Show and Share, Overflowing with Creativity, Creative Me, Made U Look, It's a Hodgepodge Friday

Meet Mumpkin!

Well, it's definitely that time of year again . . . And I am excited!!  Some of my most favorite holidays (including my birthday!!!) are just around the corner and I. CAN'T. WAIT!!  To kick things off,  I thought I would share a quick and easy Halloween craft with you that I actually posted on a friend's blog (before I resurrected my own . . . does that make this a Zombie blog?!?!) last year.  A few of you may have seen this before over at Randee's Organized Chaos, but for those of you who haven't - enjoy!!

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I don't know where yall live, but where we call home it's hot! Yes, it's true.  Halloween is frequently a warm-weather holiday for us! Which makes decorating with carved pumpkins almost impossible! In addition to to being hard to carve in the first place, they are generally a soupy, swarming mess only a few days later. Frustrating! When my daughter was born, it quickly became apparent that she was both creative (yay) and clutsy (oops) - just like her mom! And that gave me one more reason to stick with pumpkin decorating ideas that do not involve a knife! So for the past few years, we've simply painted them, but this year we decided it was time to try something new. It was so easy and fun (and SAFE) that I wanted to share!

 

 

Make Your Own Mumpkin!

1. We picked a medium to large pumpkin, but mini mumpkins would be cute too!

2. Cut gauze fabric into 2-3 inch strips and set aside. We used a half-yard of gauze. You could also buy rolls of gauze and save a step, but the fabric is much cheaper.

3. Cut out felt eyes and mouth in any shape you want.

4. Thin regular white glue with water and pour into a flat container. TIP*** We wash and save our styrofoam meat trays - and use them for all kinds of crafts!

5. Use a large brush to coat the pumpkin in a thin layer of glue.

6. Position eyes and mouth where you want them.

7. Begin wrapping your pumpkin in gauze strips, using additional glue to secure ends. We just painted right over the gauxe with the glue and it will stiffen as it dries.

8. Keep wrapping until your pumpkin becomes a mumpkin and you're done!

This whole project took about 15 minutes to complete from start to finish and Sheep did most of the work! It's a great craft for kids and best of all - no fruit flies!

 

For even more sassy pumpkin ideas head on over here!