Fall Mantle Decor - White Pumpkins

I have been moving kind of slow to get the house decorated for Fall this year, but have been adding a few touches here and there.  I decided to get a little crafty/creative this year and see what I could actually make from supplies around the house.  First up was tackling the mantle!!  I bought a bag of little pumpkins at the grocery store last week and most of them are for the girls to paint and have fun with, but I set three aside for me to get crafty with.

While I was at JoAnn's last week for something totally not related to decorating, I did decide to pick up some Martha Stewart craft paint in linen color.  I thought that would be a pretty color to decorate my pumpkins with.  And although the color was pretty, it wasn't turning out exactly like I planned.  I would totally call it user error and plan to use the paint for another project so it will definitely not go to waste.  Well, since I was home and didn't really feel like making a trip to the store with three little ones, I searched the garage for some spray paint.  You know me, I love me some spray paint!!!  The only color we had that was close to my vision was pure white...so that is what I ended up using.  Each pumpkin got two light coats of white spray paint (dry time in between each coat was 20ish minutes).

As you can see, I added a little something extra to my pumpkins!! Using a small paintbrush I put a dab of Mod Podge on the stem and then sprinkled them with gold glitter.  I LOVE IT!!  It is totally imperfect, but made with love!

I repeated this routine for each pumpkin and placed them on the mantle.  With the white mantle and white pumpkins, I felt it needed something to break up all that white and serve the purpose for elevating the pumpkins.  I searched for a small dish or tray that could do just that, but unfortunately I didn't have one that was the right size.  However, we do have some scrap wood in the garage so I started digging through a pile.  I found a perfectly sized 1x4 calling my name.  I checked with Jeremy to make sure he didn't have some plans for this perfect piece of scrap wood and then got to work.  While out in the garage, I also grabbed a sample pot of Valspar Wet Pavement and a brush.  Because this little thought I had was so spur of the moment, I don't have any prep shots to show you.

Jeremy told me about a technique I could use that he has done with his painting called dry brushing.  I used this technique as a guideline, but did modify it a bit.  I dipped the tip of my paint brush into the paint and then brushed the excess off on the side of the can.  Taking the brush I painted strokes on the board.  If it seemed to thick in an area I would use a dry wash cloth to wipe across the board (in the direction of the grain of wood).  There wasn't a lot of paint on the paint brush since I wiped off the excess and did the board in small batches.

There was no sanding of the board, just light strokes with the paint brush and then wiping with a dry wash cloth if needed.  The wash cloth not only helped remove any excess paint, but also helped to spread out the paint.

I placed the three pumpkins on top of the board once it was all dry and instantly fell in love.  Since I wanted to keep the mantle simple, I dug through my fall decorations bin and found two floral arrangements.  I thought they would be perfect to put on each side of the mantle to balance it all out.

I wish I could take credit for the floral arrangements, but I purchased them years ago and honestly don't remember where.

And because I just love the pumpkins, here is another shot of them on the mantle!

Here is a shot of the entire mantle, what do you think??

What about you all, have you started decorating for the Fall?  Do you skip Fall and decorate for Halloween?  I am wanting to incorporate some Halloween decorations as well and thinking of something fun and creative for the front door!!  

With much love,

Kristin





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