Not so scary Jack-o-lanterns tutorial

Halloween night is a fun night at home.  We normally prepare for the kids a few days in advance and get lots of candy and try to make sure there is more than enough for all the trick or treaters.  The decorations are fun and subdued to make sure the little ones enjoy and not get too scared.  Keep scrolling to learn how to make these not so scary Jack-o-lanterns!

This year I will also be putting out these not so scary jack-o-lanterns.  This is an easy and fun way to transform the pumpkins and create fun DIY Halloween decorations.

Gather the materials

• Dollar Tree Styrofoam pumpkins
• decorative scrapbooking paper and cardstock
• vinyl
• pink and black paint
• homemade decoupage glue (mix of 50% glue with 50% water in a container) or mod podge
• small crate
• flexible LED lights

Easy steps to make the not so scary jack-o-lanterns

• Decoupage the pumpkins using home made mix of glue and water.  For the regular scrapbooking paper I cut diagonal slits in the paper and decoupaged from the bottom up.  Then for the black and silver, I used cardstock glitter paper cut in 2 inches wide strips to cover the pumpkin.  Allow to dry for about 2o minutes.  You can apply extra coat of the glue but I only did one coat and it worked well.
• Cut the cat face, the letters for the “boo” and the bats using the vinyl.  You can cut this by hand or use a cutting machine.  I like using my silhouette cutting machine because it makes very nice cuts.  Get the Studio 3 file at my free resources library – sign up at the end of the post.
• Place the stickers on the decoupaged pumpkins to make the jack-o-lanterns.
• Paint the stem of the not so scary jack-o-lanterns.
• Arrange the jack-o-lanterns in a small crate and install the LED lights.  For the floating jack-o-lantern I used pop rivets to keep the pumpkin in place.

I love how these turned out, the pink is my favorite.  I love how the elegant scrapbook paper looks against the fun kitty face.  This was a hit in the house, everyone loves it.  I ended up painting the stem a darker shade of pink and it made a better contrast as well.

These are going to be out from now until Halloween, I think these will be the hit of the night for all kids and adults.  I made a fun Halloween Wreath using Halloween scrapbook paper which is also great for decorating for Halloween and it only takes 30 minutes to make.

If you want to learn how to transform these Dollar Tree pumpkins into beautiful fall home décor, head over to my Upcycled Dollar Tree Pumpkins for home décor DIY.

Click here to see the list of great parties I will be linking to this week.