Pumpkin fun
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on October 4, 2016 10:33 AM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
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Michelle Sutton stands among some of the creations she's made using craft pumpkins.
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Michelle Sutton, floral designer at Michael's, carves a craft pumpkin to create a design that can be used as a table centerpiece, in a room of your home or on your front porch.
An owl with pretty blue feathers will add a touch of whimsy to a room in your home.
A witch with a green face, a nose with warts and a black hat sitting on your front porch might make your guests shiver just a little.
A snowman with a black top hat and a colorful scarf around his neck will add to the anticipation of the holiday season.
All these -- and lots more -- can be made using hard foam craft pumpkins available at various craft and department stores.
Michelle Sutton, floral manager and designer at Michaels, said Wayne County people are doing a lot of decorations with craft pumpkins.
"That's very popular right now," she said.
They can be very basic all the way up to extremely elaborate.
"You can just put flowers in the top of one and make an arrangement," Ms. Sutton said.
A design like this would look good as a centerpiece on your table, as a welcome sign in your doorway or as a decoration for your front porch.
"I have made owls out of them by putting a smaller pumpkin on top of a larger pumpkin and adding colorful feathers on it, complete with eyes," she said. "You can copy a photo of an owl if you like. Or you can just come up with your own idea."
Ms. Sutton has also made black cats using craft pumpkins.
"You paint the pumpkins black," she said. "You take a larger pumpkin and put a smaller pumpkin on top. Then you put a little witch's hat on top. You also do the black curly tail on the back of the larger pumpkin."
Ms. Sutton has also created a Cookie Monster face pumpkin, using a blue pumpkin and putting the facial features on it. Then she sat it on a plate full of cookies just waiting to be eaten by Cookie Monster.
In addition to putting pumpkins together to make a design or character, you can also cut the front of the craft pumpkin out to make a window into the pumpkin. Then you can put all kinds of things inside -- maybe a little mouse or a scarecrow with his legs hanging out of the bottom of the pumpkin.
For light, add an LED candle, but never burn a real candle inside a craft pumpkin.
Ms. Sutton said you can make pumpkin creations throughout the year.
"Cats and owls are popular year round, not just at Halloween or in the fall," she said.
For St. Patrick's Day, paint a craft pumpkin green and put a leprechaun with his pot of gold inside.
"For Christmas, you can put two or three white pumpkins on top of each other, the smaller at the top," Ms. Sutton said. "Put a black top hat on it and a colorful scarf around his neck.
"What you can do with pumpkins is endless."
Ms. Sutton said she gets ideas by looking through magazines and also on Pinterest.
"You see one thing and then you think, 'Wow, I could do so much more,'" she said.
Robin Newman, who also works at Michaels, said you could paint a pumpkin whatever color for the season and stick a scene in it for a pretty decoration.
"I did one a a couple years ago where I used two pumpkins and painted them," she said. "The face was green and the body was black. I used a Knifty Knitter tool to make her legs and shoes. I used yarn to make the hair and crocheted the hat. I made her nose out of polymer clay and put warts on it.
"You're limited only by your imagination."
Ms. Newman said people have been using their own creativity for years to make their own pumpkin creations. She also said she's learned a lot of from the customers and other employees about how to design craft pumpkins.
"It's not hard to make something using a craft pumpkin," Ms. Newman said. "You make up what you want. If you like it, that's the way it should be. That's what I tell everybody. If you like what you did, then that's all that matters."
She said she hears ideas from children and their parents all the time and that a lot of people make pumpkin creations as a family and get their children involved.
Here are some more ideas for designing craft pumpkins:
• Paint a design on your pumpkin, then add embellishments or even glitter.
• Cut tiny bats out of cardstock and glue them to your pumpkin in any design you want.
• Cut out the front of your pumpkin and turn it into a fairy garden. Add some greenery and fairies and even small benches or tables -- whatever you want.
• For a fancy centerpiece, glue doilies on a pumpkin.
• For a simple, but pretty, design, glue some fall leaves on the top of a large orange craft pumpkin. On top of that, glue a smaller white pumpkin. Glue fall leaves on top of it. Top it off with an even smaller orange pumpkin and add leaves to the top of it.
• You can also use ribbons and rick rack to decorate a craft pumpkin. Start at the top of the pumpkin and glue the strips down to the bottom. Use ribbon and rick rack in any colors or designs you want.
• Make a tabletop "mumkin" by gluing silk mums (just the flower, not the stem) all over your pumpkin, covering it entirely.
• For a beachy theme, glue a variety of seashells onto your pumpkin in any design you want.
• For July 4, paint a craft pumpkin red, white and blue, cut a hole in the front and put a miniature American flag inside.
• For Thanksgiving, cut a hole in the front of the pumpkin and put toy turkeys inside or turn it into a cornucopia by filling it with plastic fruits and vegetables letting them spill out of the hole.
• For Christmas, paint a craft pumpkin red, cut a hole in the front and put Santa's sleigh inside, surrounded by a snowy scene.
• Turn a pumpkin into a mummy by cutting a piece of cheesecloth into 4 by 12-inch strips and folding them in half lengthwise. Put some fabric stiffener on them and put them on your pumpkin, but not on the very top or the very bottom. Let it dry. Hot glue some wobbly eyes to the pumpkin covered in cheesecloth. Cut four more strips of cheesecloth, put fabric stiffener on them and cover each eye diagonally so just a little bit of each eye peaks out. Let it dry. Carve a small mouth in the cheesecloth on the pumpkin and paint the inside black.