My Niece Blings Pumpkins, Too!

My niece, Denise, is a blinger!  

Don't get confused.  We are both named Denise. She was not named after me.  She was born a little before I came on the scene. Even crazier - we have a third Denise in the family now.  Family get-togethers can get real confusing.  It's like a tacky Southern joke!

Anyway, back to the bling.  Check out the FABULOUS pumpkins with bling she made!

In the words of Denise, the Niece ~ I got the idea from a magazine.  They're super easy, and will last year after year.  All the supplies came from Michael's.  Philip [he DH] thinks I need a
job...   The boys [her sons] are less than impressed.  They want a werewolf pumpkin.

Click here for more pumpkins with bling,

and 

here for pumpkin bling tips.

Be sure to check out the
OCTOBER Porch and Garden Party.
It's the last one for 2010 
and will be open all month! 
Fall porches are fabulous!

I'm joining these wonderful parties:

• 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence 
• Strut your Stuff at Fireflies and Jelly Beans 
• Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life as Lori
• It’s Party Time  at Pony Tails and Fish Scales 
• Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
• Making it With Allie at What Allie's Making Now 
• Frugal Friday at Shabby Nest 
• Flaunt it Fridays at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
• Look at Me Party at It's Fun to Craft
• What I Made This Week... or This Month... or Last Month at Simply Designing  
  

Pumpkin Bling TIPS and Porch Party

I have been making loads of pumpkins with bling. (You can see my first set here.)  I've been learning a few things as I go. I'll be happy to share.

If you decide to make pumpkins to sell, you must be crazy!   I'm selling my small pumpkins with bling for $8.  I'm not making hardly a thing on it.  I am, however, having a little fun.  Next year, maybe I should make my own pumpkins.  Buying pumpkins is expensive.  And, this next year, I'll watch for big sales on my materials.  Even so, the profit will be very small.  But if I priced the pumpkins to cover my materials and minimum wage, no one would buy them!  

I'm telling you, 

if you live near Newnan, Georgia, 

you might as well stop by Rockin' B and buy mine - 

they are a real bargain!

There's a big difference in wire.  Soldering wire is wonderful (especially when it's from your husband's stash), but too expensive.  I found some craft wire in gold - 16 gauge - and it, too is wonderful and less expensive.  I found some black bead wire - 24 gauge - and it was a royal pain to work with. The 24 gauge looks about the same in the package as the 16 gauge.  You can't go by looks.  The 24 was too flimsy for pumpkin bling.

Now, why didn't I turn the big one to the good side of the pumpkin?

Sequins are inexpensive, look pretty, but are time intensive!  Any pumpkins I made with sequins are a major deal, but I'm earning maybe 25 cents an hour!  But, for some crazy reason, I enjoy doing it.  It's not easy, though, with a big ole band-aide on my thumb.

Gold spray paint looks fabulous, but you have to be very careful transporting the pumpkin.  The spray paint can chip off.  A little touch up with gold brush on craft paint should help.  Even with the added "danger", it's worth it - it's so pretty!  A coat of primer might be something to think about - especially if you are decorating a fake pumpkin to keep year after year.

You also need to be careful transporting pumpkins with the glitter paint.

Ribbon is fast and easy and looks great, but there goes your profit.  Watch for sales.  Get lots of colors.  I think I'm developing a ribbon fetish.  There's no way I can sell enough pumpkins to pay for my ribbon - most of which I got on sale, by the way!  There are other similar things you can use - hem lace and rope can be cute.  The ribbon with sewn in beads is annoying - beads pop off (and fall to the floor) with every cut.  On the upside - they are less worrisome than dropping a straight pin.  Those suckers can be hard to find!

You don't have to use sequin pins with the sequins.  Regular straight pins will do and they are much less expensive in bulk.  Other pins are fun, too. Pins with round heads look good, but cost a little more.  I used corsage pins from the floral department - they looked great and went on way faster than sequins.  Another tip - once you stick a pin in, don't pull it back out - pumpkin juice starts seeping out!

The things that look like pearls are corsage pins.

If you are the thrifty type - and I hope you are - when pumpkin time is over, remove some of the decorations to reuse next year! The ribbon and wire should come out easily.  The sequins and pins should come out fine and I really hate to think of those in a landfill where a little critter may come across them.  Next year you'll be able to impress your friends by creating your own pumpkin with bling (without having to spend a small fortune on materials!

And for a final tip - display them in groups!  If you have just one, it doesn't have quite the impact of a group of at least three.  I've played around with.  The more the merrier.  I promise - I'm not just saying that to sell more!!!

Time for another Porch and Garden Party! 

The main topic is, of course, porches and gardens, but I'm pretty loose.  If you make something that would look good on a porch, that'll do.  Sunrooms count as porches.  Anything outdoorsy is good.  Door decor - perfect!  Fall decor - yeah!  If you think your post works OK with this theme, then it's fine!  Anyway,what kind of a host would I be if I turned someone away from a party?    Inspire us!

 

I've joined in with the following parties:
    * 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence
    * Strut your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans
    * Hooking Up With HOH at House of Hepworths
    * Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life as Lori
    * It’s Party Time  at Pony Tails and Fish Scales
    * Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage
    * Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
    * Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville
    * Making it With Allie at What Allie's Making Now

Pumpkins with Bling

I love a rainy day, and this one is about as perfect as they come.  The rain has been slow and steady.  The temperature has cooled down.  I have windows open so I can feel the breeze and hear the rain.  To add to the perfection, I spent a few hours up in my loft being artsy. 

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the iron stand I found at a yard sale.  I immediately decided it would make a perfect display stand for pumpkin.  It's been years since I've decorated pumpkins and this year I intended to make up for it.  I found plenty of inspiration and posted about it here.  

I didn't decorate my pumpkins alone.  I had help.

My pumpkins are real.  They will only be around a couple of months.  That's a lot of trouble for something so short lived.  I don't regret a single moment of the time it took. 

I had so many choices, it was hard to narrow it down to 4 looks.  For the smallest pumpkin, I did a ribbon wrap technique.  The ribbon is secured with sequin push pins. This technique was quick and easy.

 

I decorated the next one with two styles of sequins.  This technique took the longest and pushing the pins in can be hard on your fingers.  I don't know why but I enjoyed doing this one most of all.  It was almost like meditating.  If you choose to try this, you might want to do it on a small pumpkin.

For the next one, I bent soldering wire into swirls and S's and squiggles.  It was loads of fun.  I spray painted the pumpkin first with a gold glitter spray paint. The I pushed the wire end into the pumpkin.  They stay in place just fine.

I used glitter paint in several colors to decorate the largest pumpkin. It was quick and easy.

Since none of the pumpkins are particularly Halloween-ish, I plan to keep them out through Thanksgiving. 

I've joined in with the following parties:
Saturday Soiree at A Little Lovely
Check Me Out Saturdays at I Am Only One Woman
Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting with Laurie
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Saturday Share Your Faves at It's a Blog Party
It's So Very Thrifty at It's So Very Cheri
Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello
Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming
Summer Sundays at The Tablescaper
Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. 
DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple
Making the World Cuter Monday at Making the World Cuter
Something I Whipped Up Monday at The Girl Creative 
Making it With Allie at What Allie's Making Now ~ open Thurs thru Sunday  

Pumpkins for the Porch

 I have seen plenty of different ways to decorate pumpkins over the years.  I am sorry to say that in the past I have not been terribly creative when it came to fall decorating.  I have so many things going now that it's not likely I'll go too crazy this year, but dang it, I'm going to put forth a little effort.  It really doesn't take much to give it some oomph.

My starting point is this wonderful ~ very heavy ~ wrought iron shelf that I bought at a recent yard sale.

I knew as soon as I put it on my porch that it was meant to have 4 pumpkins on it.  That was the easy part.  The hard part?  How should the pumpkins be decorated?

I could always leave them plain.  The orange color would really pop against the black. That could be understated and elegant (which is not me).  It would be easy - which would be great.  Or... I might leave them plain for a bit, then decorate them in a few weeks. 

When I'm ready to change the look of the pumpkins,  

I'll have plenty of inspiration.

As seen on Good Housekeeping

Gilded as seen on Fabulous Finishes

As seen on Ruthie's Renewed Treasures

As seen on Country Living

As seen on Home Improvement

As seen on Crafty Nest

These Mendhi designs are on a gourd, but why not try out the technique on a pumpkin?  Click here for details.

From Amber Elizabeth - this blog appears to have been removed

As seen on Parents Magazine

As seen on Southern Living - templates here

 

Well now.  I'm inspired!  The hard part will be deciding which look to go for.

Now it's time for another Porch and Garden Party. 

I WENT ALL OUT and joined in with a bunch of my favorite parties:
Make It Yours Day at My Backyard Eden
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs
Power of Paint at Domestically Speaking
Spotlight Yourself at It's So Very Cheri
Show Us What You're Workin' With at Me and My Bucket
Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life as Lori
It’s Party Time  at Pony Tails and Fish Scales

Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple

Strut your Stuff at Fireflies and Jelly Beans

Favorite Things Friday at A Few of My Favorite Things
Flaunt it Fridays at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Friday Finding Beauty at Dipity Road
Home and Family Fridays at Home is Where My Story Begins
Friday Make Mine Beautiful at It's a Blog Party 

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Remodelaholic's Anonymous Meeting at Remodelaholic
I'm Lovin' It Fridays at Tidy Mom
A Link Party at The Twice Remembered Cottage

Haulin' Pumpkins in a Tonka

My DH collects old trucks, mostly Tonka's from the 50"s and early 60's. We've had those packed up since the move. I've been trying to pull out a few to use in the house.

A few days ago, I pulled out this orange Tonka and added a few mini pumpkins. It turned out pretty darned cute and it's one decoration that my DH truly enjoys. I've used the red trucks for Christmas decorating, but for some reason have never thought to pull in trucks for Fall.

I put it on top of a cabinet in the kitchen and added a basket and a fall arrangement. If I had more money and more time, I could go seriously crazy with this seasonal decorating!

I thought my truck idea was totally unique until today. This morning I browsed through Rhoda's blog, Southern Hospitality. She has a wonderful, It's Fall, Y'all theme going on one of her posts. I've been browsing every chance I get.

One of her links is to Rabbit Run Cottage by Sue (aka Susie Q). How have I missed that blog? It's wonderful. On Susie Q's Autumn at Rabbit Run post, she has the cutest truck with candy corn in it!

I love it! I love it better than the mini pumpkins I used. Unfortunately, I can't borrow her candy idea. First of all, the top of the cabinet is high up and I wouldn't be able to see the candy. If I moved the truck to a lower location, the cats would scatter the candy everywhere. It can be a real challenge to decorate with curious felines roaming about!

Side note - the photo above has the Susan Branch book, Autumn From the Heart of the Home, beside it. I keep running into blogs raving about that book. I might need to make a stop by the bookstore and see what all the fuss is about.

Update! I added an old, old chalkboard with an Autumn quote -