For me fall centerpieces are all about foliages, berries, pomegranates, persimmons, pumpkins and mums. You know, classy grown up stuff. Halloween, even though it lands smack in the middle of autumn, is a totally different ballgame. I say: it’s a time to bring on the glitter, glitz and paint and get your spook on. This halloween centerpiece project is fun, sparkly, a bit out of the ordinary yet very easy on the wallet.
Instead of curly willow painted black for the topper, I used a dried piece of the fruit stalk (minus the fruits) from my recently pruned Queen Palm. I brushed it with some leftover house paint to make it “halloweenish”.
This is not at all what I had envisioned to do for this project so how it turned out totally surprised me. I had planned to use a real pumpkin or kabocha squash, curly willow branches painted black, and use spiders and/or skulls as the ornamentation. Lucy was up from Laguna Beach to film videos and wanted to stop in at our Santa Barbara Goodwill (I always find something here!) so in we went. On a shelf directly across from the front door was the black glitter pumpkin.
It was love at first sight – my plan immediately changed. After our Goodwill adventure we carried the pumpkin through farmers market and later to the restaurant where we ate dinner. We were walking so the pumpkin got lots of oohs and aahs and comments. It was a hit even before it got decorated!
You can see the step by step of me making this centerpiece at the work table in my garage:
It’s a simple project and just takes a little patience with the gluing. Here are the ingredients:
A black glitter pumpkin, the painted topper, glitter sprays & cupcake toppers. You’ll also need a drill (or something like a Phillip’s screwdriver to poke a hole in the pumpkin), paint, glitter & hot glue.
The video guides you through, but briefly, here’s what I did:
1- painted the queen palm stalk orange & glittered the gold sprays with purple & copper glitters.
2- cut the picks off the vampires & ghosts then glued them randomly onto the branches of the stalk.
3- drilled a hole in the top of the pumpkin close to the stem & glued the decorated stalk in.
4- drilled holes & stuck the glitter sprays in close to the stem.
5- stuck the witches & skeleton heads in all around the top.
Cost: Under $10.00. The pumpkin was 2.99, the cupcake toppers (a Marshall’s find) were 5.99 & the glitter spray was 99 cents.
Here’s a close up of those cute little cupcake toppers. They are 2-sided so this piece can be viewed from all sides.
Here are a few tips for you:
A cordless drill with a variety of bits is handy to have as you get more serious into crafting.
When hot gluing anything, be sure to hold it for at least 5-7 seconds as the glue dries. Otherwise, it will just “ooze” right off.
Use things you already have or have collected in nature. Just paint&/or glitter & you’ll have something new to work with.
Speaking of glitter, it comes in almost any color under the sun these days. And, there’s even glitter spray & glitter squeeze on available now.
When glittering, I use a mixture of white craft glue, like Elmer’s, & paint it on with a brush. I them sprinkle the glitter on & let it dry before I use it for my project.
I use an electric skillet full of hot glue pellets but hot glue guns are more precise. You can get a glue gun with dual temperatures – the cool melt glue guns are better if you’re crafting with kids.
You can see some basics I recommend for crafting here.
By the time you read this, I’ll be up in the San Francisco Bay Area doing a Halloween decorating job fully immersed in a seas of ghouls, goblins, bats, spiders and skeletons. This halloween centerpiece project is much smaller scale and will appeal to both adults and kids. And, it’s artificial so it can be packed away in a plastic bag or box and used for years to come. A hauntingly good buy indeed!
Happy Halloween!
- See more at:
http://www.joyusgarden.com