It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of pumpkin decor and styling. This year I also tried my hand at decorating the pumpkins themselves. This week on Instagram I showcased pumpkin decorating and styling @jpslifeandloves – Here’s two wonderfully simple ways you can decorate mini white pumpkins to huge effect.
If you’ve signed up to receive my blog posts in your inbox, then keep your eyes peeled as there is not one, but two blog posts this weekend! Here’s the first and then tomorrow there is another using the decorated white pumpkins to create a stunning pumpkin-inspired autumn table.
Pumpkin marbling
Pumpkin marbling is so easy! Anyone can do it, I promise! Here’s what you’ll need:
- A selection of mini white pumpkins, faux or real. I used faux ones from Amazon.
- Some Indigo Blue nail varnish, or a colour of your choice.
- A plastic bowl that you no longer need (It’s going to get messy!)
- Warm Water
- Kitchen Towel
Fill the bowl with Luke warm to warm water (not too full). Pour a little nail varnish into the bowl in a swirling motion. Take one of your pumpkins by the stork and immerse in the varnish/water solution and swirl around till covered. Remove it from the bowl and place on a piece of kitchen towel to dry. Repeat with the rest of your pumpkins. Wait for an hour or so for them to dry and then style them up like a pro!
Pumpkin decoupage using leaves.
The art of decoupage is decorating something using pieces of paper, glue, paint and other decorative paraphernalia. Decoupage is the perfect choice for pumpkin decorating. I’m going to be using natural leaves that I picked from my garden. I chose fern leaves of various shapes, mini maple leaves and Muehlenbeckia stems. The latter has the tiniest little green delicate leaves on black stems.
Don’t pick leaves that are too large, remember you are decorating mini pumpkins. The other tip I would give is to try and place the leaves on the flat parts of the pumpkin flesh, rather than the indents.
Now, I’m not going to lie, these are quite time consuming. It’s in no way difficult, but some leaves can be tricky to apply and so it just takes patience and a steady hand. The effect is so utterly beautiful though I think it’s worth it.
You will need:
- A selection of real or faux mini white pumpkins. I used real ones this time as I’m going to be using them to create a natural harvest-inspired table setting in my next blog post tomorrow.
- A selection of small leaves.
- PVA glue or/and spray mount glue.
- A craft brush/small paint brush.
- Kitchen towel.
- Patience.
Make sure your leaves are dry by patting them with kitchen towel to absorb excess moisture. Take one leaf and turn it upside down onto a sheet of dry kitchen towel. Use the spray mount to apply glue to the side facing you. Using your fingers, place the tacky side of the leaf onto a white pumpkin, with one end of each leaf facing the central stork. If you’re using a vine like the Muehlenbeckia, then you can go free-style.
Now, you can either use spray mount again to spray over the top of the leaf or use PVA glue ( I used Anita’s Tacky Glue, which I found on Amazon) to secure the leaf. Use the craft or painting brush to firm down the edges of the leaf. Continue like this until you have covered the pumpkin. If I could give one little tip, then it would be that less is more! Leave to dry and then style how ever you deem fit. I’ll be back tomorrow with how I chose to style them up.
