DIY Pumpkin Patch

This tutorial is so easy and barely even needs a step-by-step, but I wanted to share a couple of tips I've discovered along the way. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing, but I earn a small commission from purchases through them.  Thank you for your support of my little blog!

Two years ago, I made this cardboard pumpkin patch for a Trunk Or Treat event at Cora's school. It was so easy to make and I loved the impact that it made. I was blessed with an abundance of cardboard boxes through work and was able to make these from start to finish in an hour with a little help from Ben.

This year, I dreamed of making a wood version of this for our front garden. I knew it would be a little more labor intensive than the throwaway cardboard ones, but I loved that we'd be able to use them for years to come. I'm more into the autumn decorations than the Halloween-themed decorations, so this is perfect.

SUPPLIES:

+ Plywood (I used OSB for mine because it's what I had on hand, but I would recommend plywood)

+ Craft paint (I'm not really brand loyal with this. I usually pick up whatever is cheapest at Michaels)

+ Foam brushes
+ Clear coat (I used this, but this spray paint is also a great option I use for other projects)
+ Sand paper
+ Jigsaw (I have this one and I love it so far)
+ Drill and screws

1 .  Draw a rough outline of pumpkins and use jigsaw to cut them out. Sidenote: I just got my jigsaw and loved ThriftDiving's tutorial on how to use it. 

2 .  Sand edges

3 . Paint. I like to squirt a couple different colors and lots of orange straight on the pumpkin. The different colors give it a little dimension without spending a bunch of time on it. I used orange and white for the cardboard ones and orange, dark red, and light pink for the wooden ones. I think it would also look good with a little yellow or even brown. You can paint the stem brown or leave it brown of the wood/carboard/whatever you're making the pumpkins out of.

4 .  Paint black around the edges black and draw in lines.

5 .  Add a stake using screws.  I ripped some salvaged pallets into skinnier pieces to create a small stake, but any skinny piece of wood should work. I attach them about halfway up the pumpkin. One screw in the middle and one near the bottom.

6 .  Clear coat.

7 .  Display!

This weekend I'm planning on clearing out our front garden and setting all of the pumpkins up for the rest of the month.  Where would you put your own little pumpkin patch?

DIY Heart Garland

It will come as no surprise for those of you that follow my Party board on Pinterest, that I love the look of garland.  I wanted to make some decorations for our Valentine's party coming up, but I did not want to spend any money.  This took me about 2-3 hours while watching TV, taking nursing breaks, and letting my toddler help me with the sewing machine pedal.  If I didn't have all of the distractions, I would guess it would probably take about an hour to make 8-10 strands of 5-7' of garland.

1. Gather old packaging paper, gift bags, and birthday cards or anything that you can find that fits in your color scheme.  The pink hearts are cut out from old Victoria Secret bags or birthday cards and probably would have looked good with some of my toddler's drawings from school
2. Start cutting out tons of hearts. For those of you that aren't as cheap as I am, you could probably purchase this heart hole punch and save yourself a lot of time.
3. Feed the hearts into your sewing machine.  Make sure they face the same direction.
4. Hang them all over the place and enjoy!

DIY Birthday Banners/Garland

I made a bunch of decorations for Cora's first birthday and I thought I'd finally get around to sharing them.  These banners and garland are great because they can be stored and reused for many birthdays to come.  I'm hoping to list them in my Etsy shop soon, but if you're interested in them before that time comes you can always email or message me to set something up.

BIRTHDAY BANNER

1. Cut black felt in quarters.
2. Cut white felt in 6 pieces.  Fold in half hotdog style and cut, then fold in 3rds hamburger style.
3. Cut the white pieces into letters (I freehanded, but might help to trace it out in pencil)
4. Sew white felt letters to black background using zig zag stitch.  The felt does a great job sticking together, but it wouldn't hurt to pin the pieces together if you're less confident or a perfectionist.
5. Once all of the letters are finished, sew to the ribbon using zig zag stitch.  Decide beforehand whether you want spaces between the letters or not.

TRIANGLE GARLAND

Almost 6 sheets made about 20 feet of garland.  It is so easy and is made pretty similar to the tissue paper streamer I made here with a couple small changes.
1. Cut felt into triangles.  It helps to cut felt into  2" strips and then cut those into triangles.
2. Mix all of the colors together.
3. Grab one or two triangles at a time arranging them so you're never sewing over more than three triangles at one time (with the tissue paper streamer, you want a minimum of three stacked at a time)
4. Hang and enjoy!