How to Dress Up Pumpkins

Dress up pumpkins with spray paint.

Pumpkins are the quintessential Halloween decoration, yet they can also be used as a decoration any time of the year. Pumpkins adorn stoops, front porches, and walkways, and they are used as table centerpieces. While carving is the traditional way to dress up pumpkins, the approach is messy and the pumpkins rot shortly after they are carved. If you are looking for a less messy way to decorate your pumpkins, as well as a way to keep them fresh longer, consider using stencils and spray paint to dress them up.

Things You'll Need

• Contact paper
• Spray paint
• Spooky shapes
• Craft knife
• Scissor

Instructions

1. Print out spooky images. Look for different spooky images that you think will look good on your pumpkins--spiders, witches, ghosts and gravestones are some examples. Cut out the images with a pair of scissors.

2. Trace the images. Lay the cutout images on contact paper. Use a fine tipped marker or a pen to trace around them. If you are using a small image, such as a spider, trace it several times in a pattern on the contact paper.

3. Cut out the images. Use a craft knife to cut around the pictures that you traced on the contact paper. Remove the cutout pieces, being careful not to tear them.

4. Spray paint the pumpkins. Lay the contact paper directly onto to the pumpkin and spray over the cutouts in the paper if you want the image to be the color of the spray paint. Lay the cutouts that you removed from the contact paper on the pumpkin if you want orange images and a pumpkin that is the color of the spray paint. Spray the entire pumpkin around the shapes. Remove the cutouts, and they will appear orange on the pumpkin.

Tips & Warnings

• Use several different colors of spray paint to create a more interesting look.

References

• All You: Make Easy Pumpkin Crafts