I should probably name this "Pumpkin Week on Just Another Hang Up" or some such thing. Yes, I have yet another pumpkin post for y'all! I posted a tutorial on Fabric Pumpkins on Monday, and Tuesday I showed how chalk paint can transform store-bought pumpkins. Today I'm going to show how dollar store {aka "cheap"} pumpkins can be transformed into more realistic looking pumpkins.
Have you ever noticed that the stem on a fabricated pumpkin is one of the most important things that make an imitation pumpkin look more real? Take the item above as an example. It couldn't look more fake with that orange stubby stem. Well, truth be told, there's a lot wrong with the pumpkin above, but the good new is -- {wait for it} -- it can all be changed with a little paint, sisal rope, cinnamon, glue, and a positive attitude.
The other day I was perusing Pinterest, when I came upon a pin that directed me to this website with a post about how to make realistic looking stems on a fake pumpkin. It made my day!
The next day I followed the blog post at Anderson & Grant and made a sisal rope stem for the pumpkin below. I learned a few things. I felt like this first stem was way too thick for the size of the pumpkin...
So, for the next couple I did something a little different. First I separated the strands of the sisal rope a little more thoroughly, so they were just strands of rope. Then I cut some shorter lengths and hot glued them around the base of the stem.
After that I cut some longer threads of sisal and hot glued them to the shorter strands. I didn't use nearly the same amount of longer threads as the shorter threads. As a result, I had a stem that wasn't as thick as the first, but covered the original stem well. {The gourd below is the same one as above, after the transformation of stem and paint...}
Well, not exactly like they'd been harvested from the field because I've never seen a blue pumpkin growing in a field {wouldn't that be cool?}, but you get my drift. Now we have a gorgeous display of more realistic-ish looking pumpkins and gourds.
Honestly, I think we've improved on Mother Nature.
Just sayin'.
