We are still counting our blessings here and enjoying the Thanksgiving Season. This week we are focusing on getting our homes and families ready for a day of gratefulness. It’s not Christmas yet…

First up, a scrapy little pumpkin. Made with fall colored material scraps and stuffed with old newspaper. It is fun, easy and looks great in any room of your house.

Materials:

1. Material scraps in a variety of fall colors.

2. Twine

3. Newspaper or upcycled wrapping or tissue paper

4. A very small amount of sewing ability

5. Scissors

6. Sewing machine

To begin, determine  the size or sizes you want your pumpkin to be.  This pumpkin is about 8 inches tall. Now you will want to make the bottom of the pumpkin. If you are using felt cut out the exact size that you want. I cut out two, 5-inch circles and sewed them right sides together (leaving a small opening) like I was making a little pillow and then turned it right side out.  I did this because I knew I would not be good at making a little hem around the circumference of the circle.

Now, cut your scraps to make the outside of pumpkin. The width of my strips are not all the same. I let the scraps determine how wide they were.  I used ten, 10-inch long stripes and they ranged in width from 1.5-3 inches. Next, sew them together to form a cylinder shape.  Attach one end of your cylinder to the circle you already made and leave the other end open.

Finally, stuff your pumpkin with whatever you have on hand. I used  a little bit of upcycled tissue paper and a little bit of newspaper. When your pumpkin has reached its desired plumpness, gather the open top and tie it up with twine. Wrap the twine around a few times to form a stems before tying it off.

There you are, all done. When Thanksgiving is over, untie the twine and take out the stuffing. Now you can store it flat and re-stuff it next fall.

Happy Upcycling,

Jill