{Handmade Goodie of the Week} Painted Polka Dot Monogram Pumpkin

What a better way to come back to blogging than with a fun fall tutorial!

Today I'll be sharing with you all how to make this super-cute Painted Polka Dot Monogram Pumpkin.

Try and say that 10 times fast!  

It's no secret I love pumpkins.  Well, it might be for those of you who are new to Scraps and Scribbles.  So now you know.  I love pumpkins.  Which is probably why I love fall so much.  Each year I try to make a pumpkin-type craft to add to our Halloween/Fall decor.  This year, both of my littles are old enough to get in on the action, so I wanted something we could do together.  Little Man was really taken with the craft pumpkins at Michaels and they were half off, so I grabbed one for us to decorate.  I'd really been wanting to make a monogrammed pumpkin, so this was perfect.

To make yours, you'll need:

A craft pumpkin in whatever size/color you'd like
Paint-you'll want a background color, a dot color and an outline color
Brushes
Dotting sponge or pencil with unused eraser
Accent Ribbon

What to do:

I started by drawing a large "D" on my pumpkin.  You can either free-hand this, or use a stencil or if you have a crafty cutting machine, cut out some vinyl to use as a stencil-whatever is your style.

Then, using your background color, fill in your letter.  You might need to do more than one coat.  Allow to dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Once your paint is completely dry, it's time to get dotting!

I used the eraser end of a pencil for my dots, swirling it around to make some a little larger.  You can use whatever method works best for you.  Again, let your paint dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Once your dots are dry, take a fine tip brush and your outline color and outline your monogram.  Now, this step is completely optional, of course, so if you feel your monogram looks awesome without an outline, skip to the next step or call it done.

Once your outline has dried, take a piece of your accent ribbon and tie it in a nice bow around the stem of your pumpkin.

And that's it!  An easy, cute DIY project that's great for Halloween AND fall decor!  I'd love to see your take on this-if you make one, post a pic of your finished project on the Facebook page!

Hand Towel Bag Dispenser

I'm a big fan of reusable grocery bags.  They make my life easier.  But I some times forget to bring them into the store with me, so we do end up with plastic bags.  I use them as liners for our trashcans and in lieu of fancy diaper pails.  So I need a place to keep them organized and at hand.  For about $3, I turned an ordinary dish towel into a nice little bag for my bags.

This one hangs in our garage, right outside the kitchen door and I made a second one for in the baby's room.

To make one, all you need is:
A dish towel

Skinny elastic

Small safety pin

Hot glue gun and glue

Cut two lengths of elastic just a few inches longer than the ends of the towel.  Take one of the pieces of elastic and the safety pin and pin it to one end.

Using the tube created by the hem at the end of the towel (it should be open all the way across, so look for that when picking out your towel) thread the elastic through, safety pin end first, using the pin to pull it through.  Make sure you hold on to the other end while you do this.

Grab the two ends of the elastic and pull tight

Until it's a tight as you can get, forming a circle.

Like so.  Tie the ends of the elastic together in a knot and trim off extra.

Repeat on the other end.  Keep the opening at this end a little looser when you tie it closed.

Your towel should look something like this now.  Flip it inside out and line up the outside edges.

Using your hot glue gun, draw a line of glue, a little bit at a time, down one of the edges and glue the other to it.

Turn it right-side out

It should look something like this-a tube with holes at either end.

I added a small loop of ribbon to the loose end to hang it with.  Just tie a piece of ribbon or twine or whatever you choose around the elastic, knotting it at one end.

Hang and fill with bags from the top (where your hanging loop is)

Pull the bags out through the opening at the bottom.  And there you have it-a cheap, easy and quick way to store those plastic bags you've got laying around.