Sarahritchie17 Pumpkin season is one of my favorite times of the year. Seeing all the pop-up pumpkin patches brings me so much joy. I love pumpkin flavored things—pancakes, ravioli, curry, cream cheese, and of course lattes just to name a few, and pumpkin scented candles are just so wonderful. And I love using pumpkins to decorate my home.
As fun as it is to carve pumpkins, it’s a lot of effort, only for them to last just a few days before rotting. Maybe if you can leave them on the front porch and live in the Northeast they’d last longer, but they rot so quickly in an apartment in the South.
So, I prefer to paint my pumpkins. They last way longer, usually a whole month, and they’re super fun to make!
Today I wanted to share with you a step-by-step tutorial on how I painted one of my pumpkins this year. It’s simple, inexpensive, fun, and it even glows in the dark! As long as you can draw a spiral, a cloud, a heart, and a teardrop shape, you should be good! In just ten easy steps, you’ll end up with a fun fall decoration to spruce up your place.
Let’s get started!
Step 1: Gather the supplies.
All you need for this is a medium size pumpkin ($5-ish) and a set of Tulip Glow Fabric Paint ($12-ish). I also recommend keeping a damp papertowel nearby. If you mess up, you can wipe the paint off before it dries.
Step 2: Start at the top.
Pick which side of the pumpkin you want to be the face and turn that side to face you. On the top flat area, let’s call it the crown, draw a spiral. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just start to get used to how much pressure you have to use to make the paint do what you want. Pick a new color and make a second spiral to the right and a third color to make a third spiral on the left.
Step 3: The forehead.
Pick a new color. From the center spiral, draw a diamond shape. Draw a teardrop shape on each side of it.
Step 4: The eyes.
Pick a new color. Make three dots down from the diamond. On either side, make dots to form circles about 1 inch in diameter. This is the start of the eyes on your pumpkin face.
Step 5: The eyeliner.
Now we’re going to add to the eyes to make them pop. Start with a different color and make a circle around the dotted circle. Take another color, and draw a cloud or flower-shape around that. Using that same color, draw a smaller circle inside the initial dotted circle you made. Still with me?
Step 6: The nose.
Pick a different color and draw an upside-down heart. If this is tricky, you can flip your pumpkin upside-down and draw a right-side-up heart instead. Just be super careful not to smear the paint with your hand! That’s why we work from top to bottom. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Step 7: The mouth.
I think the easiest way to draw this mouth is in three sub-steps.
Step 8: The chin.
Now pick the lowest point you can see without tilting your pumpkin up. From that point, make curved lines towards the mouth like a snowflake. You don’t want to tilt your pumpkin up because you’ll have to give the paint time to dry, and it’s easiest if you just don’t paint areas that might smudge in the process.
Step 9: The cheeks.
Put your hands on the sides of your pumpkin like you’re about to pick it up. Pay attention to where your palms are. Then remove your hands and draw a big parenthesis where each of your hands were. Between the eyes and the mouth on each side, draw a spiral off of these parenthesis lines.
Step 10: Highlight.
Add dots along these lines and wherever else you think needs some flare. Make the design your own and add whatever else you want.
You can find more ideas for pumpkin painting on Pinterest. I often find inspiration there but use my own creativity to end up with something totally different.
I hope you give this craft a try and embrace and enjoy pumpkin season even if things do look different this year.
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Cheers!
Sarah