Week 5: Mod Podged Pumpkin and Spray Painted Candle Sticks

Hi all!

It's officially fall, so I have decided that it's time to do fall related pins :)  To be more specific, pins related to Halloween.  The beauty of some of the pins that I have been interesting, can be easily modified for the fall season in general and materials can be reused for other holidays (read Christmas).

First we'll start with the candlesticks.  There are many pins related to using candle sticks.  I actually saw them in a pin that I am still working on looking for the materials for (mason jars... with lids!  the thrift stores seem to have a bunch without lids, but that's another story.  I'll be hitting up Walmart this week).  Luckily, another pin I found tied in having the candlesticks with pumpkins, so that works.

The fun part about the candlesticks was finding them!  I went to thrift stores and found 4 different candlesticks for $3-$7.  I ended up spending about $16 on the four candlesticks below (priced at about $40 normally).  Now, if you aren't as lucky as I was, I see some candle sticks at IKEA that ranged from $7.99 to $14.99.  Since my candlesticks weren't all the same color and also had some scratches and nicks in them, I bought some Krylon spray paint in a flat black.  I spray painted the candlesticks outside while it was still nice out and let the candlesticks dry completely in between coats (I only did 2).  I let them dry completely (and then some outside).

While those were drying, I busted out the crafting pumpkin (in a cream color that I purchased at Target for $3), scrapbook paper (on sale at Michael's), scissors, foam paint brush, Mod Podge (the gloss kind), and some newspaper (for laying down on the table) and started to decoupage the pumpkin.  First, I cut the scrap paper into strips.  Next came the actual decoupaging.  Now, I have only decoupaged one other time in my life; on a flat surface and with fabric.  I had no idea what a pain it would be to use scrapbook paper and an uneven surface.  Luckily, I was going for a vintage pumpkin look, so the bubbles and crinkles from trying to mod podge this thing worked well and to my advantage.  There are so many other great resources on the internet that will explain to you how to PROPERLY use mod podge, but I'll briefly recap my adventure.

This stuff is a pain.  I mean, I LOVE it to death, but like I said, using it on an uneven surface with rock hard paper, does not make for an easy task.  Cutting into strips was a brilliant idea (thanks to other pins and blogs I have seen, I got this idea).  One idea I will pass on if you attempt to try this, I also cut slits into the strips where the strip would bend to the pumpkin.  This helped a bunch.

Unfortunately, because I did not have the fancy little squeegee thingy, I had to use my fingers to get rid of the excess Mod Podge and to flatten out the bumps and bubbles (or in some cases to create extra).  This means I could not take pictures of all of the steps.  I do have to say you need to work quickly with this stuff since it dries so fast.  Also thin layers are WAY better than think.  I also put a layer on the pumpkin, on the back of the paper, and the front to seal.  The end results are below :)

Overall, I say if you have the time, go for this project!  I like the idea that I can reuse the pumpkin and bring it into fall and that I can use the candlesticks again.  Now that I bought the materials, I'll be able to use them for other projects in the future too.  However, if you don't have the time or energy or nerve to make these, you can find lots of cute alternatives at Joann's or Michael's :)

Here are the pins that inspired me-

http://pinterest.com/pin/231256455/

http://pinterest.com/pin/110138440/

http://pinterest.com/pin/160419826/