"Steampunk-in" Altered Craft Pumpkin by Lynne

Hey there! While I'm not a huge Halloween fan (other than the cutesy little-kid type stuff) I do enjoy fall decor and I saw an altered craft pumpkin on a crafty friend's Facebook page which inspired my to create this one. Do check out Heather Tracy's blog Thicketworks and the lovely pumpkin she created at: http://thicketworks.com/easy-elegant-pumpkin/

I started with one of those craft pumpkins you can find at Michael's although this technique could be used on real pumpkins as well.

I used DecoArt Honest Copper metallic acrylic paint to coat the entire pumpkin. The colour looks richer and less orange in real life, but we were having a dreary overcast day.

I arranged a combination of chipboard pieces, flowers, and metal embellishments and then painted them with the copper paint as well. Then I set them aside to dry.

I used Mod Podge to attach pieces of lace here and there on the front of the pumpkin. I found the thinner synthetic lace worked better than the thicker cotton lace. I then added another coat of paint. If you try to attach the lace before the first coat of paint it may not cover well in the openings so the extra step is worthwhile.

Then I was able to have some fun with the background sponge painting over the copper with gold and adding some mist in warm tones.

After attaching the chipboard and other embellishments, I continued to add mists making sure to use some of them heavily enough to encourage dripping into the grooves of the pumpkin. I also rubbed Brown and Paprika Versacolor inks onto the embellishments to define them a little more. The final sprays were Dylusions Pomengranate Seed which has a rich burgundy and a dash of Heidi Swapp Gold Lame.

This really was a fun project to put together and I think a cluster of these altered pumpkins in different sizes (and maybe even some gourd shapes) would make an eye catching display. Happy fall to you and have a colourful week!

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Steampunk Shape Set

Chain Borders

Gear Border and Corners Miniatures

OTHER ITEMS USED

DecoArt acrylic paints

Prima flowers

Tattered Angels mist

Heidi Swapp mist

Dylusions mist

VersaColor Inks