Rustic Wood Pallet Pumpkin Patch

I've long admired the hand-cut wood pallet pumpkins I see here on Hometalk and on Pinterest. Now I can finally have my own using pre-made wood shapes! I used chalky finish paint to create my own pumpkin patch!

The first thing I did was give both sides a coat of brown chalky finish paint. (I used a small paint brush to paint the edges and small parts, as I needed something tiny to get in the nooks and crannies!





The next step was to dry brush some paint onto the pumpkins. The key to making this technique look like old and weathered paint is to build up color slowly. Once you try it, you'll have the hang of it pretty quick.





Dip your paintbrush into the paint, wipe off most of it onto a paper towel, then lightly brush the paint across your surface, skimming over it lightly with your brush at an angle. I practiced on a blank paper towel and then some scrap wood to learn what worked best for me.





You can use as much color as you want, or not much at all. This is what I love: it's totally up to you and there's no wrong way to do this. (Don't listen to those perfectionists!) The above image is one of the large orange pumpkins after this step.





I added painted pumpkin stems as well as a very light "swoosh" of dark green chalky finish paint here and there to each of my painted pumpkins, just to give them more dimension.





I made the "vine" part of the stem using florist wire covered in twine. I simply wrapped it around a lip balm tube for easy curls, before winding it around the pumpkins stems.





I love how the pumpkins turned out! I stuck the bright teal color in there just to be fun. Many people use purple in their Halloween decorating, so you could try that too. Remember: it's up to you and what YOU like!





Now we have a pretty pumpkin patch we can use every year, now through the Thanksgiving holiday season!
I did this project for Walnut Hollow - who makes the wood shapes -- and you can see my complete how-to plus many helpful pictures and techniques -- at the blog post link below!






Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/10135233/rustic-wood-pallet-pumpkin-patch site