{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!

My First Attempt at Glazing and Some Pretties

I tried my hand at glazing for the first time last week and I must say, I'm quite pleased with the results.  

Last week, I gave you all a sneak peak at some projects I was working on.

They're all finished!

I attached the birdhouses to the candlesticks and glazed the frames.

Here's the frame before.

And here it is after some paint and glaze.  I love how the glaze brought out all the neat details of this frame.  Right now, it's sporting my spring printable from Very Jane.

Here are my birdhouse pedestals.  I sanded the houses to give them a worn look and then glued them onto the candlesticks.

Here is a before of the other frame I glazed.

And after.

This one is waiting for something to go in it.  But I love how it turned out!  Isn't amazing what a coat of paint can do?!

{A Glance} Projects in Progress

I wanted to give you all a glimpse at some projects I'm currently working on yesterday, but due to my dog chewing through our cable, our internet was down.  Don't ask.  But it's up and running today, so here they are.

Oh, how I love spray paint and its magical transformative powers.  You may recognize some of these goodies from my recent thrifting post.

This pretty frame got a coat of white and tomorrow it's getting glazed (I found some at Lowe's today-I knew they wouldn't disappoint!)

And this one got a coat of lovely blue and will get glazed tomorrow, too.

My candlesticks are now brown and are going to be used to

Turn these babies into pedestal birdhouses!  Or, bird castles as the little man calls them.  As soon as they are dry (they both had to get second coats today) and after a little sanding to roughen up the edges, I'll be putting them together.