For years the feel of autumn in the air had me both looking forward to and dreading the pumpkin decorating season.  As a child those scary faces carved in the pumpkins were not very delightful to look at for me.  Many a bad dream featured such toothless monsters.  Just the same – cutting open these gourds and carving out the facial features was a fun activity with friends and family.  One I never wanted to miss out on.

Now all our kids are grown and have youngin’s of their own.  None of them live in the same state that we do and we have no little folk around to ring our doorbell for sweet treats.  But that doesn’t keep me from decorating the house with a pumpkin or two during this season of cool breezes and crackling leaves under foot.

This year I decided to draw on the skin of the great orange beasts rather than cut them up.  As a matter of fact I didn’t even pick my vegi off the vine.  Instead I picked up a couple of impersonators from the local craft store.  Michaels happens to be the closest one that draws me to their entrance and right now they have lots of them in stock at just the right prices.  I splurged with buying more than I needed at my house. So work peers may just be surprised to find one of these little fella’s on their office desk in the near future.  😉

These are simply plastic pumpkins with various repeat patterns drawn on them using whichever permanent ink marker/pen I had that would work on them.  I bought a couple different kinds and found that some of the pumpkins had a coating on them that clogged up my pen nib.  Sharpie markers worked well on some but for others I had to resort to an ordinary roller-ballpoint pen.  After an unsuccessful test – I opted not to ruin my microns nor my favorite go-to Prisma’s on this particular project.

Divide and Conquer

What to do?  Well it’s simple.  Wash your pumpkin (to hopefully get rid of any coating that may be on it).  Then take your pen and divide the sections of the canvas in the natural grooves of your little round friend.

In each section draw a different pattern.  Think of this as a 3-D sampler.  🙂  I’m certain you could do the same on a regular pumpkin if that’s your preference over plastic.  Drawing new patterns each year may become a more pleasant tradition at your house than those messy carving parties.

Decorating in Style

Out with the scary Jack-o-Lantern faces and in with the new repeat pattern designs.  Cluster your pumpkin buddies together on your table or in the corner on the floor.  Maybe add a bit of twine or straw to embellish them further.  Then enjoy showing off this crafty project at your home throughout the entire autumn season.  And don’t stop at pumpkin either.  Have a go at decorating other gourd shapes as well!

At my house – ’tis the season for gold, brown, orange, and red.

And take a picture to share with me!  I wanna see.  I wanna see.  I wanna see what you’ve tangled up too!
~ Cindy