Fall Pumpkins

I have to say I'm VERY excited about this project!  Mainly because, as far as I know, it is my first "original" idea!!!  I'm very good at copying other projects, but this one I came up with on my own!  I do have to give inspirational credit to HL, Walmart, and this website.  (She did this AMAZING wall with Sharpies!)

Have you been to HL and seen those large monogrammed pumpkins?  I'm not huge on monogrammed pieces, but I was confident I could do something similar.  Here's my miniature version...

I picked up this mini pumpkin at my local Dollar Tree.  They also have some at Walmart as well for $1.00.  I then chose a font on Microsoft Word that I liked and printed out a few different sizes.  Once I decided on size, I used my hobby knife to cut out the letter.  I then used the letter like a stencil and traced it with a pencil onto the pumpkin.  Then I went back with my Sharpie and colored it in.  I also used a pencil to sketch on my thick circle, then went back and colored it in with my Sharpie.  I free-handed my thin circle and dots with the Sharpie.

Then I saw a pumpkin at Walmart for $5/$10 that had the words "Give Thanks" on them.  Again..I figured I could do this.  I did the same, as far as finding a font that I like on Word.  The only issue was cutting it out.  It was much too "scripty" to cut it out to use it as a stencil.  So by looking at what I printed, I free-handed it on in pencil first.  Any mistakes could be erased easily with a baby wipe.  Then I went back and filled it in with my Sharpie.  The big pumpkin I also found at the Dollar Tree.  I made a few different versions of these though to be used as gifts for some special ladies.  I did find though that you needed to either use the Super Fine Tip Sharpies on the smaller pumpkins, or just make sure you have a brand new Sharpie.  Otherwise you don't really get the look you want (at least with the font I chose.)

Finally, I wanted to try and imitate this other pumpkin I saw at HL.  The one at the store was a ceramic piece in B&W.  Lots of intricate floral work on it.  I figured since I could get a mini pumpkin for $1.00 if I messed it up it wouldn't be that detrimental.  It definitely didn't turn out quite like I wanted.  But the idea is there and maybe I'll try again next year.  For this pumpkin I bought a stencil set at HL and traced it on my pumpkin with a pencil.  I think it would look better if I would have gotten the stencils closer together; with less space in between each.  And if I do try this again next year I might actually try spray painting it white first to give it a more dramatic look.  Not my favorite outcome, but it will work for now.

This is the project I choose for our MOPS group to do in two weeks, so I think I bought out all available mini pumpkins at the Dollar Tree's and Walmarts in all three cities surrounding me.  I was trying to wait to post this till after our group did this project, but was thinking that if anyone else is interested in trying this it would be too late to find any pumpkins.  You could of course do this on real pumpkins too, of any size, but I like that I can have them again for next year.