Crafting Rebellion: 8/1/15

Hello again!!!

It's been ages since I posted!!! I took some time off to do a few things. One of which was to write a book. It was on my bucket list and now I am into editing. I'm also thinking about book two. Not sure if I will self publish book one but its still a possibility. I also was busy with a new Etsy shop. But, things have settled a bit so I thought it was time to get back to some blogging!! I really did miss it!

Fall is one of my favorite times to decorate and while it is only August I am starting to see the Halloween items already creeping into the stores. Its a good time to start a fall craft and it helps me through the sadness that summer will soon be over. Waaaa!!! I LOVE summer. I have to focus on something to keep my mind off of the cooler nights!!

Last year I made checkerboard pumpkins using plastic pumpkins. I wanted to create a black and white Halloween theme. It is easy to create the checkerboard (just takes a little patience) and looks cute added in which your other black and white pumpkins. I think I will do a black and white monogram one this year to add to the mix. I also compiled some fun pumpkin crafts to see after the quick tutorial.

I thought I'd share how to make your own checkerboard faux pumpkins. You just need white, black and gold (or silver) acrylic paint and your faux pumpkin. You can use this same concept for adding harlequin or polka dots the mix. The key is painting all your pumpkin stems gold (or silver) to tie them all together. This is not a quick project, but it is fun when you're done, and the pumpkins will last every year!!!

All you need is some paint and a faux pumpkin. I used the tubes of acrylic paint at Michael's and a small bottle of gold paint (you don't need much gold).

Start by painting your faux pumpkin stem gold. Or you can paint it after the checkerboard. Painting all the stems gold or silver really ties them together!. Next paint your faux pumpkin white or begin with a white faux pumpkin. Let the pumpkin dry over night as plastic takes awhile to dry.

Next use a black sharpie or pencil to make circles heading down your pumpkin. I spaced mine about an inch part for the small pumpkin and closer to 2" for the bigger one. I eyeballed but you could measure.

Use the grooved vertical lines on the pumpkin for adding your vertical lines. Make sure you have an odd number of sections before you paint. Mine all had an odd number of grooves. Start filling in every other square with black paint.

When your pumpkin is all checkered let it dry, then paint the stem gold. I can't believe how much nicer the faux pumpkins look with gold stems!!! I painted some black, white, and orange pumpkins stems gold as well so they all tie together.

When dry take the pumpkins outside and give them a good couple sprays of clear varnish so they will be nice and shiny. Now enjoy your new pumpkins!!!