Thursday, October 11, 2012

Fall Crafts: Paper Mache Pumpkins


Paper Mache Pumpkins
We made paper mache pumpkins from plastic grocery bags.
Allie loves to use recycled materials for crafts.
I just took a bunch of plastic grocery bags.
About 30 per child.
Stuffed them one inside the other,
squeezed out the air,
and formed them into a ball, using the handles as a stem.
This is easier than it sounds.
Then with three rubber bands, you can go around the pumpkin to make the ridges.


We cut newspaper into strips.
My girls honestly lump that stuff on way more than they should.
I end up scraping a lot off.
The best way, I found, was to put a coat of mache on, then apply strips of paper.
We used two coats of each.


We were lucky with some warm, sunny days, which tried the pumpkins well.


I bought pumpkin orange craft paint.
Really, I did.
I just couldn't find it when it came time to paint :(
I could have run back to the store...but we had some leftover orange spray paint
and my girls think it is GREAT fun to use spray paint.


The pumpkins,
surrounded by the leaves made a great centerpiece :)



 So, what are some of your favorite fall projects?