DIY Chunky Glitter Pumpkins
Glitter makes everything better. Almost. It didn’t make my eyeball any better one time when I got to visit the optometrist to get a dodgy piece of very fine translucent glitter removed. That was an unfortunately bad case of glitters. They are rare but can happen 🙂
And in spite of the fact that my tastes have started to turn a weensy bit toward burlap and natural things I still wanted a glittered-up pumpkin that fit into that natural category. I snagged a paper mache pumpkin from the craft store and a bottle of tacky glue and got after it.
As it just so happens, Rob and I are both in love with this simple but pretty pumpkin. It’s a good reminder that things don’t need to be very difficult to be very attractive!
For this project you will need:
- Paper mache pumpkin
(or another pumpkin) - Tacky glue
- Brush
- Chunky Glitter
(or another pumpkin)
If you like the look but cannot find a paper mache pumpkin, you can also use strips of brown paper bag glued to the surface of a Funkin style, carvable foam pumpkin instead.
To start apply glue around the stem of your pumpkin fanning downward a bit. Feel free to work in sections if your glue is drying quickly on you.
Over a piece of paper glitter the pumpkin and allow it to sit for a few minutes. This extra time will help more glitter adhere to the glue than if you immediately tapped the excess off. This also prevents finding those weird, chunky glued together pieces in your glitter later on down the road.
Which reminds me… If you glitter on top of a piece of paper you can pick it up and roll the sides together and funnel the glitter back into your jar. Sometimes glitter is so tightly packed that you might not be able to get everything to fit back inside if it is a new jar!
Go around and make the glue swoop lower in some places than others for some nice variation.
To add a little more dimension, you can use a very fine glitter in a matching or complementing color on top of the chunky glitter. It will settle into the cracks and give the pumpkin more sparkle!
To finish paint little dots of glue, or dab the tube, around the pumpkin with more dots being nearer the top and closer to the bottom more sparse. Shake your chunky glitter onto these areas and allow the pumpkin to fully dry.
Before actually setting out give your pumpkin one last tap over a trash can to remove the excess glitter. You’ll never have any glitter to worry about but this helps to remove what was going to fall off soon anyway.
Set nearby a window in the living room, this pumpkin glitters and kind of has a disco ball quality with such large pieces of glitter!
And it looks spectacular all alone, too!
A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.