Some of you may have seen my Facebook post:
Ha ha ha — I’m not that extreme, but fall — even coming from Florida — is my favorite time of year. And, I do see July 5th as the starting point for holiday home crafting.
So, game on!
I’m starting small — with 8-inch pumpkins I bought at Hobby Lobby In full disclosure, I don’t usually shop there (not that their ownership knows or cares), but don’t worry, I won’t go into my reasons.
Anyway, they’re currently the only craft store with all of their fall items on the shelves and ready for purchase. I went to AC Moore, JoAnn’s, and Michael’s, and all three of them had lots of empty shelves getting ready to stock, but empty on July 5th none-the-less.
Here’s the easy project I’ve started with this year.
Supplies:
two plastic pumpkins (or however many you want to make), ribbon, fall silks, hot glue, wire clippers, and scissors.
If you are doing this with children, please don’t use a hot glue gun. Please use the low temp glue guns that are available (and less expensive) at all crafting outlets. The silks I used are some that I had leftover from last year. The total cost for this project was $7.99 for each pumpkin and $3.99 for the ribbon. If you need to buy silks, you can get them at Dollar Tree.
This is such a simple project, but it served the purpose for me — and that was to get me in the “fall mood” and motivated.
Here we go:
Using the hot glue gun (or the low temp glue gun), begin attaching your choice of fall silks — leaves, flowers, eucalyptus, pine cones, acorns, etc. When I had mine just as I wanted them, I glued down a bow. Keep in mind that you’ll need to hold these items in place for a few seconds while the glue sets.
Cute and simple, right?
Be careful not to add too much to the top of your pumpkin, otherwise it will become top heavy and start to topple over.
See the painting in the background? That was painted by an 83-year old woman who had Alzheimer’s disease. She no longer knew her family. She could no longer speak. She had never picked up a paint brush in her life.
That is what art and craft therapy can do for the soul!! And I will cherish that painting for all of my life.
