Custom Pumpkins

This year I wanted to bring a deep turquoise color into my Thanksgiving mantel design.  However, that color is a bit hard to find in between all of the orange, yellow, red, and brown on the shelves...especially when you are talking about pumpkins.

So I thought to myself...why don't you paint some pumpkins yourself?  

I found these pumpkins at Hobby Lobby, on sale of course, for about a dollar a piece.

And this one for a couple bucks.

My idea was to paint the pumpkins the deep turquoise color.  Then once dried, I would brush on a wood stain on top, to add dimension.  And it worked!

I started by mixing together some acrylic paints to create the color I wanted.

Then using a basic paintbrush, I painted the pumpkins...nothing too fancy.

After the paint dried (which didn't take very long) I used another paintbrush to brush on the stain.  I used a water-based stain because there is a little more give to it (opposed to a polyurethane) plus the clean-up is easier.

I had the option to wipe off a bit of the stain, but I felt that I didn't need to.  It was a totally easy project with a nice outcome.  The turquoise pumpkins add a nice richness to my mantel.