Fall is here—and with it, all the cozy, crafty vibes! If you’ve ever walked into a dollar store, eyed those plain foam pumpkins, and thought “What if…?”—this project is for you. With nothing more than foam pumpkins, a hot glue gun, and a spray of paint, you can turn budget picks into textured works of art. Using simple dots of hot glue, you build up layers, smooth and refine the details, and finish off with your favorite color or finish. The result? Something elegant, tactile, and totally DIY. Ready to take your pumpkin game from basic to breathtaking?
MATERIALS
(This post may contain affiliate links and/or may include promotional materials.)
Foam pumpkins
Burlap fall leaves
ColorShot Vintage Lace Glossy Spray Paint (or spray paint of your choice) (and gloves, optional)
Fully charge your AdTech Synergi Cordless Glue Gun and have plenty of glue sticks on hand.
Press tip of glue gun onto surface of pumpkin and gently pull trigger. Pull straight up to create dot. Apply glue dots around top of pumpkin to feel the flow of the glue. Hint, the smaller the dot, the more it will hold its circle shape.
Larger glue dots tend to run so try placing a fan on your tabletop to quickly cool the glue dots. Also, if you tip the pumpkin quickly back and forth, that helps to hold the circle shapes until the glue starts to cool. If one dot (or 10!) get drippy, no problem! Let it cool and add smaller dots on top.
Once you have applied your first dots over the pumpkin, now you want to go back and fill in with smaller glue dots in between until you have covered the entire foam surface.
Don’t worry about the stringing because you can fix those strings with a heat gun at the end of gluing.
Set your heat gun to lowest setting and keep moving it above the surface of the glue. Check and double check to be sure you have heated all the glue strings until they disappear. Again, remember to keep your heat gun moving around at all times.
To add veins to your burlap leaves, just draw the lines with your glue gun.
To finish your pumpkins and leaves, spray paint in the color and finish of your choice (matte, satin or gloss). You can also brush on acrylic paint. Let dry.
Style your pumpkins and leaves for Halloween all the way into fall. With the neutral colors, you will be able to style your own fancy!
LATEST POSTS:
Leave a Reply