Turning Faux Pumpkins into Jack O Lanterns

Is there any better time of the year other than fall? We don’t think so! There’s something so cozy and magical about this time of the year. Whether it’s the fall foliage, the baked goods or all the fun holidays that are around the corner crafting enthusiasts really shine this time of the year! So, when it came time to decorate our front porch for Halloween we noticed that our set of faux pumpkins were looking a bit sad. Plus, we thought it would be cute to add some Halloween faces to one side of each pumpkin. Then when it comes to decorate for Thanksgiving we can just turn them around and voila! We are ready for the next holiday.

Step 1: Gather your supplies:

Faux pumpkins
Acrylic paints
Paint brushes
Pencil
Clear spray paint or sealer ( we used a semi-gloss spay by Rustoleum)

Step 2: If your pumpkins are anything like ours they need a good cleaning. We just used some multi purpose spray, a wet rag and some good old fashioned elbow grease to give our pumpkins a must needed scrubbing.

Step 3: We’ve had our pumpkins for a long time and they’ve definitely been used so they were pretty faded from the sun. We wanted to bring them back to life by giving them a fresh base coat of paint. This took about 2 coats of each color, we had 4 orange and 2 white pumpkins. Then we added some dimension by adding a little brown paint mixed in with the orange. We think it makes them look more natural and more like real pumpkins.

Step 4: Once the paint was dry we used a pencil to draw out our jack o lantern faces. Whether you like spooky Halloween or cutesy Halloween decor it’s completely up to you.

Step 5: Using black paint and brush paint your jack o lantern faces. This only took us one coat of paint, it doesn’t have to be perfect. We think Halloween doesn’t have to be so serious, have fun with it!

Step 6: Now it’s time to seal your pumpkins. We chose to use a semi-gloss spray paint sealer made by Rustoleum. It’s our go to spray sealer. But, you could whatever you have on hand.