Folk art wood pumpkin

I saw a fabric pumpkin felt project a few years ago that inspire me to design a similar wood pumpkin.

I started with a scrap 1" x 12" board.  Once I had a drawing I liked, I traced it out of a file folder so it would be stiff enough for me to trace onto wood.

I originally made this a couple of years ago, but it needed repainted.  I decided my pumpkin needed a new look.  So I started by painting the main body orange.  The stem was brown previously so I left as is for now.

You can see in this pic that it originally had a scrap wood nose, and I had originally painted on white eyes and mouth.  This time I wanted to add more dimension with some type of eyes.  I decided on round wood drawer pulls but I didn't like them as is.  I ended up cutting the back off so they sat closer to the pumpkin.  I glued them on and I like the dimension they give my project.

I used five colors on my pumpkin.  Orange, brown, green, white and yellow.  Now, I am by NO means a painter, so I looked on pinterest and the internet for paintings of pumpkins to get some ideas on how to paint it.  This is how I did mine.

At this point I wasn't sure I had made the right choice, the brown, white and green seemed so bright and now what I was thinking.  But as I blended more, added yellow and softened everything up it started looking better.  I blended the nose in and added the eyes.

Here is my finished pumpkin.  I personally adore it.  I blended colors into the stem also, to create depth,  I like his heady little eyes, his nose, everything.  There isn't anything perfect about it, but I admire imperfection, so it's perfect for me.

I hope you'll leave a note if my pumpkin inspires you to create something fun.  

Have fun and be creative!

Myra

Painted pine cone flower wreath

Fall Pinecone Wreath

I made a pinecone flower wreath a couple of weeks ago.  I used various size and type of pinecones, acorns, moss, flower seed pods, and some old poppy seed cones I had left over from another project.  I cut the large pine cones to resemble flowers and painted them with fall colors.

I painted some solid colors, some with different color centers, and some I trimmed with paint to make them pop.  I added in a few small blue accents just to add some pop.

I love the colors and I love the end result.

Here it is hanging on our kitchen door.  I think it's simple but perfect for our old house and door.

If this inspires you to make one please let me know.

Myra