Munchkin Punkin

I've never been big on seasonal decorations. Not Halloween. Not St. Patrick's Day. Or even Christmas really. I put a tree up every year but I'm never overly excited to do it. I don't like the pressure of having to put it all up and then take it all down within a specified period of time; because it is highly unacceptable to still have your Christmas lights up and on in February...apparently. If I decorate my home, it is more often than not, with decorations that can blend in to the holidays that follow. For example, fall décor can be used to celebrate all holidays that fall in the three month span of the acceptable decorating time. You can use pumpkins, fall leaves, and pumpkin spice EVERYTHING! This year I thought I would try to decorate for the specific holiday of Halloween with some subtle, handmade decorations. This is what I have come up with so far...


I found these lil paper mache pumpkins in Joann's last week and thought I would start small. Literally. They are about 2 inches tall!

This is NOT my photo. I forgot to take a before pic so I found this on the Joann website. They are super cute! They come in a pack of four.

So anyway, like most of my projects I didn't know where to start. Instead of contemplating and planning out my pieces, I usually just go for it and let my creativity surprise me. It's a little easier when you are doing a specific theme such as Halloween and you have a pretty good idea where it will end up. I did know, however, that I didn't want to do anything crazy, just simple, farmhouse chic pumpkins that didn't stand out too much. I mean, how could they? They are 2 inches tall!

I started with a layer of black acrylic paint. (I didn't have any black gesso)

After the lil munchkins dried (with the help of my heat gun), I coated them generously with crackle medium. When the top coat that I apply cracks, I want the bottom coat to contrast it. That is why I painted them black. It's very important that you let the medium dry completely before you add the top coat. I do not use the heat tool at this point in the process because it seems to warp the crackle-ness and not work as well. So I had to be patient. blah.

It's not intended for crafting, per say, but hey, it works! Valspar crackle glaze is amazing!



When it was completely dry I decided to paint them orange! Pretty bold move eh? I used chalk paint because I wanted a matte finish and chalk paint is easy to distress. I didn't take any pictures of this part of the process but I think it's pretty self explanatory.

After the chalk paint dried and the crackle medium did it's job, I thought it would look very rustic if I distressed them to the max. I had already created a lot of contrast with the cracks, but I wanted them to look very worn. Here comes the digital ground!!! That sounds like the name of a boy band or something...anyway...I dabbed on a little ground on top around the "stem" and sprayed a bit of water to allow the ground to flow downward freely. I was sure to have the heat gun right there so it didn't run too much. After drying the ground, I used distress ink (Tim Holtz) in Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo to "antique" the lumps and bumps of the pumpkin form.

TA_DAH!!! My Munchkin Punkins turned out pretty 'OK'! But since they are so tiny, I have yet to find a place for them. What do you think? Should I put them in my Etsy shop??

Munchkin Punkins!!