DIY Pumpkin

While most of the country gets to enjoy autumn weather, we are still baking here in the hot, hot desert.  It’s 105 degrees as I write this.  I miss the brisk fall air, falling leaves and all the other things that go along with the season.  I figure I’m just going to have to use some craftiness to make it seem a little more fall-like in my home.  In my attempt to be frugal, I am going to try to do these fall projects with materials and craft supplies I have around my home.  Today I made The Cereal Box Pumpkin:

First I cut open an empty box of cereal and cut it into strips in a feather-like shape:

I cut out 12 of the “feathers” (but it could take more depending on the width of each one), then I started stapling them together at the ends like so:

Make sure to staple it so that there is a little opening left at the ends. When the strips make a complete “ball” you have your pumpkin base.

I was thinking of leaving the pumpkin au naturel for the organic look, put then I remembered that I am the proud owner of a can of glossy Pumpkin Orange spray paint.  So I took my creation outside and went to town painting it orange. While it dried outside, I went inside to make the stem.  I took a strip of newspaper, about 4 inches in height and crunched it while rolling it into a stem shape.  I put a piece of double-sided tape a from one end to about the middle of it and then started wrapping some craft paper ribbon around it:

To finish, I just stuck the newspaper end i of my stem into the hole at the top of the pumpkin and voila: my first homemade fall decoration!