Pumpkin Decorating ideas

We love Halloween and every year I’m looking for the latest pumpkin decorating ideas that are equal parts decor, function, and fun. Our Halloween Pinterest Board is full of all things clever and colorful and this year’s trend to personalize pumpkins caught my eye early. This past weekend I tried my hand at tackling my own Halloween monogram and oh how fun! With a little help from a good friend who owns a Cricket  Craft Cutter (the ultimate time saver and wow factor for serious crafters) I was able to create my own version of what I’d seen and here are the steps for you to follow too:

1. Gather up some 1″ thick ribbon in a color that will pop with nice sized polka dots. Add a dash of sparkle with glitter dusted tulle.

2. Choose a pumpkin with a nice size stem making it easy to secure your bow and tulle without concerns of it slipping.

3. Cut outdoor vinyl on the Cricket Craft Cutter in letter and circle shapes. You can purchase it online in a variety of colors at a very reasonable price. Lucky for me my sweet friend has tons of purple. Cut the letter off of the big sheet leaving only the white around the edges as shown. Cut individual squares of contact paper to match teh size of each letter square.

4. Peel the contact paper apart to leave the sticky side. Place the sticky side of the contact paper on top of letter laying flat and facing up. Rub the combined items with a craft stick until they are stuck together. Pull back the contact paper/letter combo. If they are not stuck together, go back and continue to rube them together with the craft stick until they adhere.

5. Place the sticky/letter combo onto the pumpkin surface. Rub the sticky/letter combo with a craft stick until it adheres to the pumpkin. Peel slowly as before and if not complete, return to rubbing it until it does.

6. Peel the dots from the vinyl and apply directly. They do not need contact paper to adhere. Peel the outline of the dots for the perfect touch to truly make your polka dot monogram pumpkin complete.

And just like that ~ you are personalized, monogrammed, and have a ridiculously cute pumpkin ready to welcome Trick-or-Treaters all season long!  Okay maybe not just like that because I could have never accomplished this without the insight of my friend who immediately noted that what I was seeing on so many pumpkins was actually vinyl and so easy to cut on her Cricket.  Knowing where to go for the right answers makes all the difference when it comes to great crafting ideas and this was no different.  Once my friend could point me in the right direction (can cut my letter and polka dots) it was all about assembly and truly that was easy enough for our daughter to assist.  I’m always looking for easy pumpkin decorating ideas so tell me…

What is your favorite pumpkin decor this Halloween season?

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ we’ll see you next time!

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