Paper Pumpkins How-To

I worked on a quick little project last night that ended up being pretty cute and only cost a few bucks. I've seen these in several places this week in Blogville and decided to make my own.

I think they came out kind of cute.

Anyhoodle, here's what you need:

Some ribbon, a few of those harvest pick things sold in most craft stores, 2 matching pieces of paper--I used 12 x 12 inch scrapbooking paper. Not shown: scissors, hole punch, tape, wire cutters.

First, you need to cut strips of paper. I cut mine 1 inch wide by the length of the paper (or width--they're both 12 inches so it doesn't matter). You can use a paper cutter to make life easier, or you can commit a mortal crafting sin and use your rotary cutter and mat to cut the strips (I need to replace the blade anyway so no biggie).

Next, you'll need to punch a hole at each end. Try and make it the same distance from each of the three edges. Obviously I didn't try hard enough but I wish I had...this is a 'do as I say not as I do' moment.

Take some of your ribbon and make a knot at one end. On the other end put a piece of tape around the ribbon (like the end of a shoelace) to help feed it through the holes. Poke this through one of the sets of holes you punched. The knot should end up on the side of the paper that you want facing out (your pumpkin "skin," if you'll humor me).

Take your taped ribbon and feed it through the other holes. Pull it a bit, and you should have this:

Tie a knot at the other end of the ribbon. Both knots should be on the side of the paper that you want facing outwards. This ribbon piece creates a pivot point that the strips can now fan out around. Arrange them until you achieve the look you like. I needed to shorten my ribbon a little bit (I just made a new knot and trimmed the end) so that it would sit properly.

I then took my harvest pick things (this is the technical term for them), and cut them about in half using wire cutters (so THAT'S what they were for!) so they wouldn't be ridiculously large. I poked the stem through the hole--the ribbon being in there gave it a nice fit--and snugged it up a bit. A wonky bow with some festive 

ribbon and that's all, she wrote.

Only thing I would change--I would buy paper that was orange on both sides because I'm not overly amused with the white side that is showing through. But the outside is so rusticy-pumpkin looking that it kind of makes up for it.

This could be a cute craft for kids with construction paper and pipe cleaners, and it's super inexpensive to pull off. I gave these to my mumsy--I adore how she takes all the cheesy things I make and pretends like they're the cutest thing she's ever seen (kind of like when I was in kindergarten).

Have you entered my giveaway? Click here for the details--you have until November 11th to enter!