Autumn Pumpkin Projects

Pumpkins are a staple of autumn. Whether Halloween or Thanksgiving, pumpkins undoubtedly play a large role in either autumn holiday. With a little imagination, there are some creative ways to use dowel to craft pumpkin projects for your home.

If you enjoy designing your own floral arrangements, purchase some artificial flowers of various sizes and shapes, being certain to select autumnal colors. Orange, gold, yellow, deep purple, burnt red, and any other accenting color that reminds you of autumn are great ways to go. Then, using your selected flowers, design your own arrangements.

When the arrangement is done, add a touch more of autumn by carving a craft pumpkin and using dowel.

Choose a dowel sized appropriately for the project. Consider the overall size of the floral arrangement, as well as the size of the craft pumpkins. Make cuts to the dowel as required to meet the specific desired size. Before making the cut, however, consider whether or not you would like for the dowel to extend through the top of the craft pumpkin and, if so, how much dowel you would like to show on the top half of the pumpkin.

Once this is determined, carefully insert the dowel through the bottom center point of the pumpkin.

Adding by creative touches Consider to the wood Dowel before fixing it in place. If you decide to accentuate the dowel, first remove it from the pumpkin. There are several things that can be done to make it more crafty. It can be painted, wrapped in ribbon or both. Whichever you may decide, be certain to allow sufficient time for the paint or hot glue to dry once the paint or ribbon is applied.

Reinsert the dowel into the craft pumpkin, secure either end (if applicable) with a small amount of hot glue, allow it to dry and then insert the pumpkin into the floral arrangement.

The same concept can be applied to a Halloween craft or floral arrangement. With a Halloween motif, however, consider first painting, or carving and painting, a face on the pumpkin that is characteristic of traditional pumpkin carving. Get the whole family involved by allowing your children to design or paint the pumpkin faces. Consider designing incrementally sized pumpkins, and use an appropriately-sized section of hardwood dowel that will accommodate a pumpkin topiary. Other creative touches may be added as well. Consider affixing a plastic spider to a craft pumpkin, adding a witch and broom, or using string or cotton batting to replicate a cobweb.

These are just a couple of ideas for using pumpkins, one of autumn's most distinctive items, in a creative way. Use your own creativity and a few very inexpensive supplies, available at most local craft supplies stores, to add your own personal touches and make something that can be displayed year after year.