How to Decorate Pumpkins With Paper Doilies

Use paper doilies to decorate pumpkins.

When the chill of autumn brings forth the harvest of orange pumpkins and gourds of all shades and sizes, thoughts of fall decorations begin to stir the summer-weary crafter into producing crisp, fresh products to display. Besides carving pumpkins, you can paint them a solid shade such as metallic gold or silver for a festive holiday appeal. For a more elaborate, but simply accomplished, project, use paper doilies to stencil and decorate your pumpkins. Inexpensive paper doilies can be cut to frame a pumpkin top and bottom, or can be used to embellish the sides of a pumpkin in frilly medallions.

Things You'll Need

• Pumpkin
• Scissors
• Paper doilies, 10-inch diameter or larger
• Permanent marker
• Removable, re-positionable spray adhesive
• Acrylic paint
• Paper plate
• Stencil brush or natural sea sponge

Instructions

Decorative Pumpkin Paper Doily Outlines

1. Cut out the center portion of the paper doily with scissors. Place the hole of the doily over the stem of the pumpkin, positioning the paper doily so it is even around the top of the pumpkin. Mark a dot on the pumpkin where the ring of the doily's top edge should be placed. Mark a dot on the doily to let you know where to align the ring. Remove the doily.

2. 

   Paper doilies can be used to decorate pumpkins.

   Spray the doily stencil with a re-positionable spray-on adhesive. Let it dry. The doily will become like a self-adhesive sticker.

3. Place the doily over the stem and match the dots on the doily and pumpkin. Press firmly, smoothing the paper doily.

4. 

   Blot the brush lightly into the acrylic paint.

   Pour a pea-sized amount of acrylic paint onto a paper plate. Blot the stencil brush or the natural sea sponge onto the paint, blotting on an empty part of the plate to remove excess paint. You don't want the brush or sponge to drip. Too little paint is better than too much. Too much will drip and glob on your pumpkin, ruining your decoration. You can always add more paint if you haven't used enough.

5. Dab the sponge or stencil brush onto the paper doily lightly, continuing until paint covers it all the way around. If the brush or sponge runs out of paint, blot the brush or sponge in the paint on the plate again.

6. 

   Allow the painted decoration to dry before handling the pumpkin.

   Allow the paint to dry until tacky to the touch and then carefully lift and peel the paper doily from the pumpkin. Allow the paint to dry before handling or moving the pumpkin.

Decorative Paper Doily Medallions

1. Cut the outside ring from the paper doily, leaving only the center medallion.

2. 

   Allow the spray-on adhesive to dry on the paper doily.

   Spray the doily medallion with a removable spray-on adhesive. Allow the adhesive on the doily medallion to dry.

3. Position the paper doily medallion on the pumpkin where you wish to create your stencil, and press firmly, adhering the medallion to the pumpkin.

4. 

   Decorate your pumpkin with doily medallions.

   Follow Section 1 Steps 4-6 and apply paint to decorate the pumpkin with paper doily medallion.

Tips & Warnings

• Elmer's, Dritz and Krylon are among several brands that make re-positionable, removable spray-on adhesives. These adhesives can be purchased from online retailers or discount and craft stores. Experiment with different cuts to the doily for different decorations. Using two colors is another fun way to decorate the pumpkin with overlapping medallions.

• Apply spray adhesive in a well-ventilated area.

References

• Ladies Home Journal: Decorating Pumpkins
• Better Homes and Garden: Stenciled Pumpkins