Friday, October 28, 2011

Easy to make Jack-o-Lantern



Do you remember 
when I posted 
about this hanging 
jack-o-lantern
a couple years ago?


I had seen a similar version
in Minneapolis at the Bachman's
Fall Idea House home tour. 
I decided to go home
and try to make my own version.






So, I ran to Hobby Lobby and bought
two large faux pumpkins 
that are hollow and easy to carve.




Then I marked and carved out the faces.
I liked their happy and inviting eyes and
noses so I made the same faces on mine.


 I used an old steak knife to carve our the face.


I took the big section from the mouth
and hot glued it as a new bottom to
create a sturdy perch for the candle.
(These pumpkins come with a 4-5" hole in the bottom.)




Could not find a macrame' plant
holder anywhere so I purchased
black macrame' string
 and created my own version of a hanger.





Right near the string 
they had these gold metal rings 
and so I put the two together
to make a contraption or a sling
for the little fellows to sit on.





Some simple loops, a couple knots, and
some braiding and this is how it turned out.





They are very sturdy and should be able
to hold even a real pumpkin, if necessary.
Anyway, this is how they turned out:



Made one for the main door and one for the side entry too.

These plastic pumpkins were pretty easy to carve and will last forever.... pretty much!

This candle was used for my photos only. Will replace with candle operated for the 31st!


Best part,
you can use them 
over
and
over
and
over!*



Are you ready for Halloween?



*This story originally ran in part in 2011.


21 comments:

Blondie's Journal said...

Alison...these are SO cute!! And I bet the squirrels wouldn't give a hoot about them!! Thanks for the tutorial! Love them!

XO,
Jane

Debra@CommonGround said...

These are tooo cute. Love that huge mouth. and all of us oldies from the 70's applaud your adept use of macrame! te he! xoxo

Heather Ward said...

they turned out so cute...and I love that you used the "fake" pumpkins so that you can re-use them every year! great idea!!!

The enchanted home said...

Alison- these are adorable. Really fun and different.....the kids will get a kick out of them! If they were up north, its crazy to think they would be filled with snow by tomorrow night. Crazy weather!!

Rebecca said...

There are great! So was learning the 7 things about you--particularly how you met your husband and of your design experience in sports-related projects :)

Babs said...

Great job and so cute! Happy Halloween!

Pinky at Designs by Pinky said...

These are GREAT! I know the kids will love them (and the young at heart too0!!!! Have a GREAT weekend! XO, Pinky

Sue said...

These are so fun! Very clever to make your own!

Pamela Gordon said...

These are a cute idea and easy to do. Thanks for the tips. Pamela

Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads said...

Soooo cute! What a great idea to use the fake pumpkins to use year after year.

Debi said...

Like the fact I can use those again next year. Jane from Blondie's Journal should really like those since the squirrels take bites out of hers. Your's turned very halloweenie!!

Debi said...

Like the fact I can use those again next year. Jane from Blondie's Journal should really like those since the squirrels take bites out of hers. Your's turned very halloweenie!!

Honey at 2805 said...

Super cute! Don't know that I can remember any macreme knots.

Kelly said...

I love your creations! So adorable. You did a great job copying the originals. I'm glad you said you were going to use a battery operated candle instead because I worried that the moss would catch fire! I bet you'll get alot of compliments on those on Halloween night.

Stephanie ~ Angelic Accents said...

Well done, Alison! Love those cute punkins!! I've been trying to get back into the swing of things and just had to come by and visit you when I finally got my Pink Saturday post done!! Hope you are having a wonderful Fall!

Big TX Hugs,
Stephanie
Angelic Accents

Calypso In The Country said...

Love how they turned out Alison. It's funny, the mom in me thought "Oh I hope she doesn't light those candles! The whole thing is going to catch on fire!" Then I read the rest and laughed to myself! Have a Happy Halloween! (We are getting snow here tonight - insane!)
-Shelley

Sue said...

♥♥ these little guys, Alison! Need to go out and find me some Punkins today! :-) Sue

ℳartina @ Northern Nesting said...

Very cute Alison!!

Michele Smith said...

These are sooo cute!
Happy HalloweeN!

Debbiedoos said...

This is just so adorable! I have a faux pumpkin I carved with a rooster, and I would love to hang it on my porch like this. I shared your pumpkin today on my facebook page.

Nita Stacy said...

Oh..I love these! They are so great. I need to make some too!