Fall DIY Decorations

So here’s the long-overdue, promised post about the Fall decorations that I gave you a sneak peak to last time.

For starters, here’s a better shot in the daylight of everything grouped together so that you can get a better look at things.

I’ll also say upfront here that the majority of my inspiration came from Pinterest, mainly here, here, and here. I liked the idea of an elegant white, black, and gold theme and especially love how the colors are somewhat untraditional for Fall. I also think that the colors are pretty versatile and I plan on using this display for both Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Ok, and now onto the actual DIY-ing info.

Glitter Pumpkins

For the two glitter pumpkins that you see, I used fake pumpkins from Jo-Ann Fabrics and gold glitter spray paint. To protect the pumpkin stems from getting glitterified as well, I simply wrapped them in duct tape.

It took two coats to get the pumpkins completely covered, and as you may tell if you look closely enough, I wasn’t too particular about even coverage.

Flower Pumpkin

The idea of doing a flower pumpkin came to me from my mom during her visit. She had a magazine with her that featured the idea (which  I later found on Pinterest here). For this project, I picked out a lightweight foam pumpkin that I could tell was hollow inside. I found a beading reamer kit at Jo-Ann’s (in their beading department) and bought an assortment of white flowers at the Dollar Store.

I first cut all the stems on the flowers down to about 1 – 1 1/2”. Using the reamer, I made a hole in the pumpkin that the flower stem could easily fit into. I found that it worked best when I made the hole using the long, thin reamer and then used the short, blunt one to widen the top of the hole. I didn’t use any sort of pattern for my hole placement and instead just eyeballed things as I went along.

Out of all the pumpkins I made, this one certainly least resembles an actual pumpkin, but I am so enamored with it, that I really don’t care if it actually looks like I giant pom-pom. I love it. I should also note that this was the most expensive pumpkin to make. I bought twelve flower bunches from the Dollar Store and in addition to the reaming tools and pumpkin – this little cutie rang in close to twenty dollars.

Fabric Pumpkins

By far, I was most excited to try my hand at a black lace pumpkin. The rumor going around on Pinterest was that you could just cover a pumpkin using black lace pantyhose. However, unless you have an extremely small pumpkin and extra large pantyhose, that’s just not going to happen. You do in fact, have to go out and buy a black lace fabric. While picking out my lace fabric at Jo-Ann’s, I found a pretty gold mesh fabric that I decided to use as well.

This project was very straightforward. I cut a small hole in the fabric for the stem to poke through and then attempted to gather the fabric at the base of the pumpkin as neatly as I could. I used a stapler to attach the fabric and then trimmed off any excess.

Embellished Pumpkins

The three small, embellished pumpkins that are part of the display were more of an afterthought. After seeing this pin, I just knew that what my pumpkin display was missing was a little glitz.

For this project, I used real pumpkin gourds that I picked up from my grocery store. For two of the gourds, I spread an all-purpose glue on top near the stem and spread it halfway down the sides. I then covered the gourds in small clear and pearl beads.

For the third gourd, I had run out beads and had gotten tired, so I cut a few pieces of gold ribbon that I had on hand and glued them to the stem. Nothing too fancy, but pretty in its own way.

Lace Candle

I loved my black lace pumpkin so much, but felt that it stuck out a bit from the rest of the display as being darker than all the other items. To help balance things out a bit, I took a tall, white pillar candle and covered it in leftover lace material that I glued around the top edge.

Table Runner

The table runner is, hands-down, the biggest copout project in my display. After setting my pumpkins up on the table, I wasn’t too pleased with how bare things were still looking.

I decided that a nice white or gold table runner would help tie things together and help provide a more put-together look. I had plenty of gold mesh fabric leftover from my fabric pumpkin, so I started to consider the idea of trying to make my own table runner by layering the gold mesh material onto a plain white fabric. Not really wanting to shell out anymore cash though, I came up with the crazy idea to use paper towels. Yup, you read that right. My table runner is made out of paper towel.

I tore off a long strip of paper towels and did my best to line up the edges of the paper towel and gold fabric. I folded the gold fabric all the way around the paper towel and then stapled it into place and trimmed the short edges to make them straight as possible.

The cool thing is, unless I told you that my table runner was paper towel, you would never guess. Even people seeing it in person are surprised to hear what it’s made of.

Fall Sign

The last part of my Fall decor is the holiday sign. This was another easy project that came together pretty quickly. I picked up black letter stickers and  two sheets of craft paper from Jo-Ann’s – one in a pretty gold texture and the other one a light colored pattern. From the gold textured paper, I cut out leaves freestyle. I glued them onto the patterned paper and attempted to arrange them in a way to make it look like they were falling and collecting at the bottom of the paper.

I’m thinking that I might make a new sign for Thanksgiving, but we shall see.

And there you have it – my Fall display! I’m really proud that my DIY attempt came out so well since I have a record of typically failing in the past. As far as costs go, I didn’t keep track of my receipts very well, but I would estimate that everything totaled in around 60 dollars. While that isn’t cheap by any means, I plan on putting everything into storage (with the exception of the three small embellished pumpkins which are the only real pumpkins in the display) and reusing everything for years to come, so hopefully I’ll get my money’s worth as time goes on. For anyone considering doing a similar DIY project, I would definitely recommend shopping around for your pumpkins (craft stores like Michaels and Jo-Ann’s as well as places like Target or Wal-Mart) and looking for the cheapest option. Since everything is being covered, it really isn’t necessary to buy the best quality pumpkins that go for over $20 each.

What are you guys doing to decorate for the holidays? Anyone trying projects that they discovered off of Pinterest?

What do you guys think of the DIY post? I hope you don’t mind me branching out to talk about other things besides food!