Hello everybody!

Last month I was scrolling through Hobbycraft looking for Halloween diy ideas when I came across this pack of paper mache pumpkins! I thought they’d be a quick and easy diy, they’re the perfect size to decorate a shelf or window ledge, and pretty small so they won’t take up too much space when they’re in storage the rest of the year.

I decided that I would decopatch two and paint the other two. So, I began by painting two with a base coat of white paint – I was using ready mix paint for this so it took a couple of coats before the mini pumpkins were completely white, whereas a more opaque paint such as acrylic probably would have finished this in one coat and saved time *oh well*.

Whilst the paint was drying, I moved onto the other two pumpkins and began to select which papers would co-ordinate with each other. I tried to make the first pumpkin an orange theme, but it turned out I don’t really have much orange or spooky decopatch paper, so I chose papers with hints of orange in the pattern. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought about this before I started, but it was actually pretty tricky decopatching around the pumpkin’s face 🙈 as the pieces need to be a specific size, but it is doable, and I really like the end effect. My favourite part about this pumpkin is the way that the design of one of the floral papers tore so it looks like it says “boo!” which I thought was fitting. 😂

For the second decopatch pumpkin I decided on a pastel blue theme – not very Halloweeny – but I recently purchased a new unicorn paper and I thought it would be fun to be a little different, so I selected a couple of other papers to match and I think this might actually be my favourite as it’s subtle but cute. 🦄

Now coming back to the painted pumpkins, for the first I went for quite a simple design, painting the bottom half with gold acrylic paint to give a dip-dye effect. This only took one coat and the gold paint is slightly orangey, so it matches the pumpkin theme perfectly, and I think this would actually look good painted all over too.

For the final pumpkin, I wanted to create the effect of a cupcake. So, I began by painting the bottom half light pink in the same way as the gold, then added shadows with a darker shade in the gaps to give the effect of the folds in a cupcake wrapper. I chose to leave the frosting white, and I finished this pumpkin by painting sprinkles in different colours all around the top using a tiny detail brush.

This was a fun diy and as it comes in a pack of four it’s perfect for making with family and friends or an activity at a Halloween party or sleepover!

I hope you enjoyed reading my post! Do you decorate/carve pumpkins for Halloween? And what designs have you gone for? 🎃

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Emily M x