10 Step Wood Pumpkins

I know, I know.  I just barely posted about my back to school shelf & now I'm already onto Halloween...

Well, I figured I'd get them out of the way so they'd be ready.  They aren't going on the shelf until October, so don't worry about that.

Anyway.  I have extra wood.  I have extra time.  I like to use both.  I pinned this probably a year ago or so, but finally got around to making my own version.

The pumpkin idea is super cute...and super easy.  Just a 2x4, some paint & a few other things.

Materials:
2x4 scraps
1x1 scraps (for stem)
Hanger (for vine), optional
Craft pliers (the purple & blue) for my project.
Paint, orange, brown & green
Wood of Tacky Glue
Sander & sand paper
Paint brush
Drill & 5/64" drill bit, optional
Hack Saw
Shellac/Sealer

Step 1:
Cut your boards to the size you want.
Mine are 3.25, 4 & 8 inches tall.  Don't forget to cut your stems too.  I did various sizes of what I thought would look good (about 1x1.5x3/4" for the two tall ones, a bit shorter for the small pumpkin)

Step 2:
Sand them down.
I tried to round my edges a bit to get more effect, but do what you like.

Step 3:
Paint your wood.  I used a regular orange craft paint for the pumpkins.
For the stems I combined white & coffee bean to make a brown I liked.

Step 4:
While those are drying, cut and twist the hanger to make the vines.
It wasn't hard, just took a bit of time.  There was a coating on my hanger that kind of peeled off as I was doing this, which was fine, it doesn't matter.

Step 5:
Paint the vines.
I actually used spray paint for these, way easier than trying to hand paint them.

Step 6:
When the boards are dry [if you want a weathered look, sand the edges], take the hacksaw and saw lines down the middle of the pumpkins.  [I actually did this BEFORE I painted...wrong.  Do it after to get the lighter effect that looks better].

Step 7:
Shellac everything & let dry.  I used a sating polyurethane I already had, but you could use mod podge or whatever you have on hand.

Step 8:
Drill holes for the vines to go in (or just hammer them in if your wood is soft enough).
On one end of all my vines, I left about a 1/4-1/2" straight piece that could go into the wood.

Step 9:
Glue stems to pumpkins, let dry

Step 10:
None, you're done!

See, easy & 10 steps..okay, really nine.  It took me about an hour or so to do this & it was FREE since I had all the materials.

Happy Halloween (or Thanksgiving, whatever you use these for)

Back to School Mantel/Shelf

July is over, September is quickly approaching, October is too far away.  I decided to do a "school" shelf. My son isn't even two yet, but I figured it's never too early to start teaching right?

I searched for some cute school themed decor and found some.  My favorite was from Tatertots & Jello.  I thought this was adorable, and kid-friendly.  I don't have a mantel, but a bookshelf that I usually seasonally decorate.  Perfect.

I had some wooden abc blocks I bought for my son's 1-year-old birthday party, but didn't think it was enough.  I bought them in the Melissa & Doug little cart, but I didn't want to spend that much for the blocks again (and still not have enough).  What were my options?  I looked online and found some at Toys R Us for cheap.  I spent $18 (about $4 more than the one set from Melissa & Doug costs) and got over 100 blocks ($3 for a pack of 15 blocks).  I was thrilled!  They even had numbers, so I was happy.

Next.  I loved the rulers & pencils from the tatertots page.  Easy to duplicate.  Smith's Marketplace was having a great sale on school supplies.  Twenty pencils for $1.  The rulers were about $.60 a piece, a little pricey, but I wanted the nice wood ones.  Mason jars-free.

I love creating my own subway art.  I have this favorite font - Smiley Monster - that I just love.  It's so cute.  I decided to make a simple subway art using that font.  I came up with some words/phrases that reminded me of school & came up with a cute little 8x10.

I had this idea that wooden letters would be so cute.  I am super super lucky to have such a talented (and generous) grandfather.  He has his own wood shop & is so kind to let me use his tools, machines and supplies.  Again, I used Smiley Monster for the letters.  I printed them out on my computer, found a scrap piece of wood at home and traced them on.  My grandpa and I cut them out, sanded them and I painted them primary colors.  I absolutely love how they turned out.  I also love the fact that they are congruent with the subway art.

So, there you have it.  I absolutely love the way it turned out.  And the best part is it is all kid-friendly.  My boy is all boy, so he definitely plays hard and is rough, but these are sure to last.

I even got so creative that I made my own alphabet tracing/learning pages for my kiddo.  I used the font KG Miss Kindergarten for each letter.  I either found and traced or free-handed the drawings for each letter.  Super cute.  Here's a quick little taste of a couple.

(I don't know copyright laws with the font & some of the drawings, so I don't want to post them all)