Since one-year-olds aren’t really “of age” when it comes to pumpkin carving, we’ve been trying to figure out a way to involve Clara in pumpkin decorating this year. And she deserved a promotion from last year’s job as hand model:
So a few days ago we finally figured out a way for Clara’s hand to come in, um, handy again. But first – let’s introduce our subjects. We’ll call them Big Brother, Middle Child, and Little Piggy.
On Monday night I broke out my favorite all-purpose medium (aka painter’s tape) and marked out a traditional jack-o-lantern stencil on Middle Child.
Then with an exacto knife I cut out the pattern carefully (okay, not that carefully – I sliced into the pumpkin a bit) and peeled away the extra tape.
Voila. He’s not done – just ready to be painted. Do you see where we’re going with this?
For Little Piggy I used a ruler to slice some thin strips of painter’s tape and created a stripe pattern all around the pumpkin.
And for Big Brother we decided to go with a P to represent the whole Petersik family of four (four-leggers count in our house – so this isn’t a baby announcement).
A few more cuts later, and our trio of pumpkins were ready to meet their artist.
And here she is now. Stripped down to a diaper and ready to make a mess.
We poured out some Crayola Washable Paints on a few paper plates and with some minor urging, Clara delicately started coloring her orange canvas.
She grew a bit tired of touching the pumpkins after the first two (she liked just dabbing her hands in the paint instead), so Sherry took over the task of painting Big Brother. Which was probably for the best since we decided that a rough circle around the monogram might be fun (and there was no way little miss toddler hands could contain herself to such a strict parameter).
The verdict? Clara seemed to have a blast. But eventually we got the “all dawn!” signal (aka: all done) and decided to call our art session officially complete.
Not before snapping a few more cute pics, of course.
Once Sherry had whisked Clara off to the bathtub, I got to seeing what our artiste had accomplished. Yup, it was tape-peeling time…
I carefully peeled of the painter’s tape to reveal our final result (with the paint still wet, since we feared that peeling it off once the paint was dry would result in the paint peeling off in chunks). Behold: Psychedelic pumpkins!
Sure, they’re not über sophisticated – but they were fun. And we think white pumpkins + a more refined color palette (yellow & gray? emerald and navy? teal & grellow?) could be really fun instead of the rainbow-inspired color scheme that Clara chose. Oh and we sprayed them over with a sealer (we had Aileen’s Gloss Spray Acrylic Sealer around, so hopefully that’ll do the trick) because this paint is washable, so we don’t want a rainstorm to send colors bleeding all over our bench (hopefully our porch awning + sealer = enough protection).
And on the subject of pumpkins, let’s take a walk down memory lane. You’ve already seen our handprint-eyed jack-o-lantern from 2010 (first pic) but that was actually in addition to the crazy puffy painted versions that we also did last year (without Clara’s help). I think they’re our favorites of all time – and they could be fun to do with kids too.
In 2009 we went the creepy route and painted insects on white pumpkins (and yes, monograms or initials tend to be a theme for us – but kids could have fun painting these too).
You can even watch that pumpkin project on time lapse video:
And last but not least, here’s one where we actually cut our pumpkins. In 2008 we tried our hand at intricate carvings – only one of which really worked out that well, if you ask me. Which one? The monogram of course. Wow, we really do like to see letters on pumpkins don’t we?
So, with all that said (and shown) – what are you guys doing for pumpkins this year? We’d love to see links and photos if you’ve got ’em. Or if you have any great tips for including kids and toddlers in the festivities, I’m sure Clara will thank you when next Halloween rolls around…
Psst- We had some fall fun this past weekend (more over on Young House Life).
Kristen @ Popcorn on the Stove says
We’re skipping pumpkins this year since we’ll be leaving for our honeymoon on Halloween but maybe next year. Letting Clara paint the pumpkins was an adorable idea and they turned out wonderfully! I love the way they turned out.
Amanda @ Our Humble A{Bowe}d says
Those look so cute. Good work, Clara. :) My son loves to hold onto the knife while we do the carving. We still have to buy pumpkins.
John@Our Home From Scratch says
That’s an awesome project! Our daughter is 8 months old and I can’t wait to do this kinda stuff with her soon.
Laura (Blogging Over Thyme) says
Love it! You guys are always so creative with your pumpkin decorations.
I’ve been eyeing so many great ideas on Pinterest lately. I want to try all of them–haha :)
Rebecca @ the lil house that could says
I didn’t decorate any pumpkins last year, but 2 years ago I carved a pumpkin of my cat!
http://thelilhousethatcould.com/2010/10/05/a-macky-pumpkin/
Painting is much easier though, I may do that this year :)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amaaaaazing!
xo,
s
jennifer says
love them! such a cute idea!
Maureen @ This (Kinda) Old House says
Well, first, let me just say that Clara is starting to look more and more like her mommy, in my opinion. Second, I have yet to even get my pumpkins. Probably this weekend. I was thinking of painting them also. Less mess and more fun.
Carolyn says
Such great ideas! And I bet the painted pumpkins last longer than a carved pumpkin, too :-)
Rebecca @This Nest is Best says
What a cute way to get Clara involved! Love it :)
Rebecca @This Nest is Best says
And we didn’t decorate our pumpkins so much this year as we just let them be the decoration :)
http://thisnestisbest.com/2011/10/18/fall-dinner-dessert-tables/
jess says
Love that yall are into pumpkins! Def. what I look forward to every fall. For the past 2 years (and again this year I will!) I’ve carved Hello Kitty as a witch and vampire. Keeps my childish side alive!
E.D.R says
We always have our kids draw on the pumpkins with a black marker. Then, the adults cut out the drawings as best as possible. Toddler scribbles make pretty cool designs when lit from inside. We take photos, of course, to document the art!
CandiL says
I love carving pumpkins! My oldest son(almost 6) dosen’t like the feel of the insides so he usually picks what he wants carved and I do his and mine and whatever else I feel like making! My other one is only 2 so he won’t get the joy of playing with knives! I do love the finger painting idea though…we may have to try that!
Julia @ Chris loves Julia says
We bought our three pumpkins (one to represent each of us) and they are sitting on our front porch waiting to be carved or painted. We have been watch Halloween Wars on Food Network and I am convinced I can shave a pumpkin into an amazing zombie or terribly accurate face, now. Hahahaha. Anyone else watching Halloween Wars and completely inspired/intimidated?!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man that sounds fun- we never watch the Food Network, but we’ll have to try to catch it! You know I love zombies and vampires…
xo,
s
Julia @ Chris loves Julia says
Sunday nights! They usually have a marathon of previous episodes, too. We got hooked last year and were so glad they did them again. Love it!
Angie @ The Country Chic Cottage says
Do no sew sweater pumpkins count??
http://www.thecountrychiccottage.net/2011/10/how-to-make-sweater-pumpkins-no-sewing.html
We have not gotten on the carve a pumpkin bandwagon yet. It just turned cool here yesterday and a moldy pumpkin at Halloween is no fun! :) Might have to get on the carving bandwagon this weekend! :)
Love the idea of letting Clara paint the pumpkins! :)
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!
xo
s
kim says
Halloween is almost as big as Christmas around here, so with that said….your pumpkins are interesting and cute, But being a parent of a 10 yr old and a Halloween junkie definitely not scary enough
Tara says
Adorable. If you could keep them dry (so you wouldn’t need to spray the gloss over them), then you cold just wash off the paint and compost them at the end. Not a criticism, just a though! :-)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s a great idea! I just worried even on a covered porch that they’d get dew on them in the mornings and start to drip/sweat since it’s such washable water-based paint!
xo,
s
Corinne says
I hadn’t given any thought yet to pumpkins for this year. Last year I used puffy paint and spray paint (after seeing your post!), and I think this year I might borrow from you all again. But instead of trippy pumpkins, I might do simple spray painted colors.
I love how focused Clara looks in some of the photos. Too cute!
Heidi says
Okay, Clara’s face in last year’s picture is the cutest thing ever. Her little facial expressions crack me up!
SingleMama says
Great idea!! Much better than having my son sit and watch me possibly slice a fnger off!
Melanie @ Mailbox Journey says
Good Job Clara! Sadly, I don’t have a place to display pumpkins, so it will have to wait until we buy a house.
Heather says
I put my 10 month old daughter in a pumpkin. haha :)
Here’s a link to my Photobucket if you’d like to see them:
http://s1178.photobucket.com/albums/x367/dhworden/Bailey%20Fall%20Pictures/
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh- hilarious!
xo,
s
Emily Drake says
LOVE this idea! I’m planning to do this with my 7 month old within the next week or so.
Seriously Sassy Mama says
I went all natural with the pumpkins this year. I bought all different colors and textures. My girls picked out their pumpkins, and had a painting party. i really do not carve pumpkins any more, because then tend to mold and get yucky sooner than later. Gotta love Texas weather!
Meg@Keeping up with the Jenks' says
Such a great idea!!
You are now a family with a young child, so your pumpkins should reflect as much. I’m definitely going to do this with our little one! Thanks for the inspiring ideas
Sarah says
What a cute idea and they turned out great! Do you guys ever eat pumpkin seeds? I’m not a huge fan but my family loves them.
YoungHouseLove says
Mmm, yes we love them too!
xo,
s
ashley vickers says
The painting is a really good idea for the babes. When my daughter was 1 last year we got a kit that you put into the pumpkin, Mr. Potato Head style. So we had a monkey, pig, and a bear. This year we let her help clean out the pumpkins before we carved them, which she loved! Then my husband carved Cinderella on her pumpkin, since that is what she is going to dress up as! I carved a “V” because I am a HUGE monogram fan too and my hubby did the creepy Grim Reaper on his. I had no idea how artistic he is. He did an amazing job.
PS. I absolutely LOVE your blog!!!
Mrs. Wonder says
Oh, I love that idea! Definitely passing it on to toddler friends…
Brandi @ His Shabby Her Chic says
I want to get pumpkins so bad, but we don’t really have anywhere to put them…
I am going to take a few fake ones and make vampires!
YoungHouseLove says
Cute!
xo,
s
Alicia says
I was hoping you could help me with something unrelated to this mornings post. I’m trying to find that post where you anchored the big mirror to the wall in your bedroom so it doesn’t tip over on Clara. I’ve tried all kinds of word combinations in the search and can’t find it. Can you tell me where you got those anchors? I’ve tried Home Depot and Wal-Mart and haven’t found them yet. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Here ya go: http://blogs.babycenter.com/life_and_home/mirror-mirror-strapped-to-the-wall/
xo,
s
Alicia says
So that’s why I couldn’t find it! I didn’t think about it being on Baby Center! Thanks Sherry!
Karen F says
I am totally doing this this weekend – thanks for the great idea!!! Yours came out awesome. Right now I have 2 faux white pumpkins from Michael’s on the front steps (and a baby orange one).
Christine says
Love this idea! Super cute and a great way to bring Clara in on the fun. We are hopefully getting some pumpkins this weekend but thanks to Pinterest I don’t know which way to decorate them! So many great ideas!
bethany says
WOW! well done guys. well done.
Wom-mom Ethne says
I’ll have to give you a link later, but my fave ever pumpkin was when my hubby carved Jack Skellington (ie the Pumpkin King from Nightmare Before Christmas) out of a green pumpkin from my mom’s yard that never ripened to orange (but was otherwise perfect). The girls (2 at the time I think) thought the guts of the pumpkin were the best ever. And speaking of, one pumpkin we saw while trick-or-treating with the girls was a standard pumpkin face but with the lower jaw broken down and the pumpkin guts spilling out. Brilliantly gross.
my honest answer says
They actually look surprzingly good! Not that Clara isn’t a talented artiste or anything, but I just expected them to go all brown. Remember at school when you mixed lots of paints together, and the result was always brown, and then one day you thought… huh, that makes sense…
Whitney Dupuis says
What a great idea!!! I was wondering how we could get Canon (20 months) involved in the process. He will love to finger paint!
Lacy says
Am completely on board with painted pumpkins…painted stripes free-hand on ours http://downmodernhome.com/2011/10/pumpkins-painted-not-carved/
Virginia (Fredericksburg, specifically) is where we are from, so it’s always nice reading your posts (I just glide over any UVA references though, since we are Hokies ;)
Bethany says
I got inspired by Pinterest this year and did an indoor pumpkin display in a white, gold, and black color scheme. I used black lace, gold glitter spray paint, pearls, rhinestones, white flowers, and gold mesh fabric to get the job done. I was so happy with the results!
http://morefruitplease.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/taking-over-my-life/
Jessica says
What awesome ideas! You guys never cease to amaze me! :)
lisa says
thank you john and sherry and clara (and burger). now off to steal your idea, if you don’t mind. haha.:)
gia says
Love this post and your multicolored pumpkins! We also have a 16 month old in our house who loves sesame street. So after a trip to sesame place last weekend, I was inspired to paint some characters. I involved maggie, by having her sit next me while we painted. She was content with playing with the paint brushes and throwing all the stickers off of the table. haha We also purchased a mini pumpkin for her, which she decorated with halloween stickers!
http://mybiggirlhouse.blogspot.com/?v=0
Haley says
Those pumpkins are awesome! I love them. Not to mention that the pictures of Clara are beyond precious.
Kris says
I spray painted mine off-white, and painted the letter “B” on it with copper- colored craft paint. I printed the letter B off the computer in outline format. Then I taped it to the pumpkin with a piece of carbon under and traced it, finishing with the paint and a brush. Here it is:
http://kristenbalvin.blogspot.com/2011/10/painted-pumpkin.html
Next year I’m trying your puff paint technique!
Jessica says
What greek letters are on John’s shirt? :)
YoungHouseLove says
It’s Phi Sigma Pi (his honor fraternity).
xo,
s
Jessica says
I was Alpha Chapter president in 2004!! :) I thought it looked like it night be PSP! what chapter are you, John?
YoungHouseLove says
I’m Alpha Omicron!
-John
Allyn says
Ah!! SO cute! Makes me wish we had a little bean of our own (we’re trying to hold out for a few more years)!
My mom used to paint awesome pictures that we picked out on our pumpkins with paint pens. I think the whole carving mess was a bit of a turnoff when dealing with 4 kids. Wonder why…
Sarah says
Our pumpkins from last year!
http://oi52.tinypic.com/2z3os4o.jpg
Still looking for ideas for this year…
Sandra T says
Sarah, that’s going to be hard to top! I love them!
Kaleigh says
Love your idea! Its great for kids and once you peel the tape of its crisp and clean!
This year I decided to decopauge pumpkins. I got the idea from the Country Living Magazine. Here is a link to my gorgeous pumpkins! Hope you like it.
http://ih3art.blogspot.com/2011/09/decopauge-pumpkins.html
Leigh Anne says
I hope my worst suspicions are not confirmed, but I can no longer see your pictures at work. Please tell me you did something different; otherwise, I’m so sad:(
YoungHouseLove says
So sorry- we didn’t do anything different! But sometimes virus software on work computers blocks our pics for a day and they come back within 24-48 hours. Here’s hoping!
xo,
s
Margaret says
I’m having the same problem, but don’t worry! This happened before, right after the big changes to the site format (unrelated to that though). I think it’s a regional issue, and it came back after a day the last time.
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s hoping!
xo,
s
Kristen says
What a fun way to involve Clara in pumpkin decorating/carving. She looked like she had a good time too! We usually just carve our pumpkins so for now they’re just sitting on the walkway to our front door. We like to wait to carve until just before Halloween so they don’t get moldy and squishy. I sort of want to buy another pumpkin though so I can paint it!
Annie says
LOVE IT!!! I have been going back and forth on getting a pumpkin to carve since my little guy is 18months. This is perfect! Thank you for the great idea!!!
Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says
That is so adorable!
So far, our pumpkins have only had a bath in chili oil (keeps the horde of squirrels that live in our tree from munching on them). I have plans to paint them on both sides (one creepy and one classy) so that after Halloween, we can turn them around and keep using them until Thanksgiving!
Juliann says
So fun! Last week I bought my five and two year old their own mini pumpkins and turned them loose with washable paint as well… they had so much fun and the painted pumpkins last longer than carved ones!