Halloween Pumpkin Painting Craft

Generally, most families have an annual tradition of carving a jack-o'lantern during the Halloween season. Carving a pumpkin is fun and can have very artistic results. But have you ever considered painting your Halloween pumpkin instead? Painted pumpkins not only last a lot longer than carved pumpkins do, but they are less of a mess and there are endless ways to customize and design your pumpkin with a variety of supplies and embellishments. To give your pumpkin an elegant yet fresh from the vine look, painting your pumpkin can be a great way to achieve the look while adding some shimmering and beautiful effects. The list of materials is short so you won't be burning a hole into your bank account, but the possibilities are endless with the right amount of creativity.

You Will Need:
One pumpkin (desired size, although large pumpkins work best)
Bright orange paint (enough to cover your entire pumpkin)
gold or silver glitter (loose)
vine stencils
small bottle of green paint
green glitter (loose)
gold or silver paint
small paint brush

Directions:
To make this beautiful pumpkin, paint your entire pumpkin with the bright orange paint that you have. Although your pumpkin is already orange to begin with, by painting over the surface with paint that is a brighter shade it will enhance the appearance of your pumpkin as well as draw the eyes of on-lookers to the design. Before doing any more design to your pumpkin, allow the paint to dry for at least 24 hours.

Most craft stores such as The Hobby Lobby and Michael's carry stencils in many different designs. For this specific design you will need a stencil that will give you the look of vines. If you can't find a stencil that suits your design idea you can just as readily draw the vines onto your pumpkin yourself with a pencil. Starting at the base of your pumpkin, trace or draw the design of your vines up the sides of the pumpkin until you have designed the complete lower half of your pumpkin. Do not draw your vines up too high as you will be decorating the top of your pumpkin later. Using the green paint that you bought, fill in your vines with the color. You may have to use a few coatings of the green to completely over-shadow the orange base that you have already applied to your pumpkin. Before your paint dries, sprinkle your vines with the loose green glitter and using a dry paint brush, remove any excess glitter that has fallen outside of your vine borders. Once again, allow your design to dry for at least 24 hours.

The final step in completing your pumpkin is to put to use the gold or silver paint that you have previously purchased. Using small amounts to begin, simply pour your gold or silver paint upon the top of your pumpkin. The paint will spread and drip down the sides of your pumpkin giving the "splatter effect." Do this until you have reached the desired amount and size of your splatter. Be careful not to use too much paint or it will run over the sides too far and restrict the appearance of your vines. Before your paint dries, again use the glitter technique over the top of your pumpkin and remove any remaining excess. Finally, let allow your pumpkin to dry for 24 hours and behold, your lovely new piece of fall decor is ready for display!